


Out of the Mouths of Babes

by NewObsessed



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Christmas, Dialogue prompts, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Humour, Jealousy, One Shot Collection, Other, Overprotective, Team Arrow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-08
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2018-02-03 20:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 33,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1756763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewObsessed/pseuds/NewObsessed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bunch of random one-shots set early on that are based on a list of dialogue prompts plus prompts from reviews. All centred around Felicity - which of course means there is Oliver :)<br/>And we're done!<br/>Chap 1 - "You'll come bail me out right?"; Chap 2 - "Are you drunk?"; Chap 3 - "You're joking, right?"; Chap 4 - "You're bleeding."; Chap 5 - "Why won't you believe me?"; Chap 6 - "Don't touch me!"; Chap 7 - "I'd rather die."; Chap 8 - "Who do you think you are?"; Chap 9 - "Promise me you'll never do that again."; Chap 10 - "Tell me the truth."; Chap 11 - "What's the news?"; Chap 12 - "That doesn't make any sense."; Chap 13 - "We make a good team."; Chap 14 - "I know what I saw."; Chap 15 - "You're cut off."; Chap 16 - "Do you hear yourself?"; Chap 17 - "Are those wedding bells I detect?"; Chap 18 - "Don't leave."; Chap 19 - "I can't see anything."; Chap 20 - "You stole that from me."; Chap 21 - "I want to help."; Chap 22 - "You're scaring me."; Chap 23 - "Did you hear that?"; Chap 24 - "How did that happen?"; Chap 25 - "I'm not going to make it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You'll come bail me out, right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How much trouble can you get into just walking a few blocks? Well, if you're Felicity Smoak - a lot.

"Finally!"

Felicity stifled a yawn as she typed the last of the prompts to hide her totally illegal, but definitely for the right reasons, foray into yet another federal database. She smiled tiredly as she closed out of the multiple screens and proceeded to shut down her babies, ready to call it a night.

From his position at the top of the salmon ladder, Oliver called out good night since he noticed Felicity getting ready to leave, packing all of her gadgets and gizmos into her bag and swinging her coat around her before heading for the door.

"Good night, Oliver." Felicity replied, waving absently over her shoulder at him as she stepped out into the cold night air. The solid door of the lair shut behind her, shoving what she can deeper into her bag while trying to pull the zipper closed. Unfortunately with the bag overflowing the darn thing wouldn't budge, so she just hoists the bulging thing higher up her shoulder, leaving her hands free so she can shove them deep into the pockets of her coat in attempt to keep them warm.

Felicity sighed as she thinks about the 10 minute walk that she now faces so she can get back to her car. She usually parks closer, given the late hour she tends to be leaving from her night job but it's a Friday night and she feels the parking near the club should be meant for the club go-ers not the nerdy IT girl who hangs around in the basement.

And plus Felicity figures she can probably use the walk. Being cooped up in front of computer monitors all the time didn't really leave her with a free moment to go to the gym, or a run, or do any type of physical exercise really. And seeing as she spent a huge portion of her time with two of the buffest and fittest men she had ever met in her life, she should probably be a little more in shape.

As Felicity maneuvered the surrounding streets, making her way to her car, she thought she heard footsteps falling behind her. With the distant sounds of the club, and the usual sound of night life around her, she couldn't be sure though so she dismissed it and continued walking.

When she rounded the corner, her world was no longer obscured by the music pumping out of Verdant so she was able to more easily pick up the sound of someone following her. Felicity tried pick up her pace, but despite her increase in speed she could hear the person behind her closing the gap between them. Felicity willed herself to remain calm, but all of that flew out the window as she felt a hand land on her arm.

"Excuse me, miss?" she heard a masculine voice ask her, but she took no notice of the polite tone as her fight or flight mode took over. Now a year ago, she would have definitely said she was a 'flight' girl but since meeting Oliver and Dig, she had been training (well, kind of) and learning self-defence.

As the grip on her arm tightened in an attempt to keep her in place, she threw her elbow back into the man's stomach and pushed her head back until she made contact and heard a satisfying crunch, one that she knew meant that she had broken his nose.

The hand on her arm fell away so she was free to run, but because of her instinct to look she had to see who her attacker was. Felicity turned slightly to take in the person hunched over on the ground behind her. He had one arm banded around his stomach, while one hand was up at his face trying to stem the blood steadily coming from his nose. Felicity froze as she took in the rest of him – dark uniform, slightly too big gun belt around his waist, tight fitting police issued cap. Oh crap.

"Oh my God, officer!" Felicity exclaimed as she stepped forward, bending down like she was going to help him up. He held up the hand that had been clutching his stomach, indicating for her not to come closer. So Felicity stood back where she was.

"oo 'oke my nose." He complained.

"I'm really sorry," Felicity quickly apologised. "But in my defense you were following me along a dark street in the middle of the night."

The officer held out a piece of paper to her. "I was tying to 'ive you this."

Felicity slowly pulled the paper from his grasp, unfolding it so that she could see what it was. She realised that it was the draft of a program she was hoping to implement to help Oliver's cause which she had taken with her, intending to work on it when she got home. The thing must have fallen out of her bag while she was rushing to cram everything else in there.

"Oh. Well, thanks." Felicity smiled at the officer as she turned to leave. "Um sorry. Again."

"Wait." The officer stopped her. Felicity immediately paused, because that's what you did when someone with authority yelled at you.

"You broke my nose." The officer repeated as he stood, his nose no longer streaming blood.

"And I'm really sorry. About that." Felicity pointed at her own nose.

"Still doesn't change the fact that you assaulted a police officer. You're coming with me." The officer reached forward to grab Felicity's upper arm and led her back to Verdant where his patrol car was.

"Wait, what?!"

* * *

Felicity's face burned as she was dragged through the station past the one or two officers who had the misfortune of pulling the night shift this time around. While it was humiliating to be towed around like a criminal, it was more infuriating that she was even in this position. It was a mistake!

"Sit." The young officer demanded, moving to the other side of what she presumed to be his desk. He pulled out some papers and tapped a few keys on his computer to wake it up. Felicity quietly took a seat, hands in her lap but her constantly tapping foot showed her frustration while the officer worked.

"Jones!" She heard a stern voice call out and then heavy footfalls coming their way. Turning she saw Detective Lance approaching.

"What's this?" Lance asked, pointing to Felicity.

"She assaulted me." The officer pouted, pointing to his nose and the beginnings of a black eye.

"You mean you let a girl beat you up?"

"I didn't _let_ her."

"Either way, I'm sure it was a misunderstanding. Right sweetheart?" This time Lance directed his question to Felicity.

Felicity quickly nodded. "Of course! I already apologised."

"See, she even apologised. So tell me why you brought her here?"

"I'm going to book her." The officer was adamant.

"I don't think so." Lance easily dismissed.

"But…"

"I just heard on the radio about a cat up a tree, maybe you should go check that out."

"But…"

"Now." Lance indicated for him to leave. With a sigh, the officer walked away from the pair.

"You're free to go."

Felicity stood to leave, and was almost to the exit when she realised that her car wasn't there. She turned back to Detective Lance who was still standing by the desk.

"Can I make a phone call?" Felicity asked as she walked back over to him.

Lance gestured to the phone, and Felicity quickly dialed Oliver.

"Yes Oliver, it's me." Upon hearing who Felicity chose to call, Lance rolled his eyes as he went back to work.

"Can you come pick me up?"

"Why where are you?"

"At the police station."

"You're where?" Felicity slightly pulled the phone away from her ear as Oliver raised his voice.

Felicity sighed as she repeated herself. "At the police station."

"Felicity, what happened?"

"Put away the Arrow voice Oliver." Felicity told him quietly so no one could hear her. "I might have hit a cop. And sort of broken his nose."

"You do know that's a felony, right?"

"So I'm told. Luckily Detective Lance came by and saved the day. I'm free to go but I can't get home. You'll come bail me out, right?"

"I'll be there soon." Oliver hung up and Felicity would swear that she heard him chuckle.

* * *


	2. Are you drunk?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just one of the many situations that lend to an inappropriate comment from Felicity

Felicity swallows heavily as she tries to concentrate on what's on her computer screen, wishing that the scrolling text would stop jumping around all over the place. Maybe that third glass of red wine had not been a good idea, she thinks as she shuts her eyes tight and rubs them in an attempt to get them to work properly. But hey she was trying to blend in, and it's not her fault the secret spy den they've created sits under a bar. When in Rome and all that…

She slowly opens her eyes, hoping this time the words on the screen are behaving themselves but groans when she sees they aren't. She closes them again, this time her hands finding the back of her neck as she rolls it from side to side trying to rid the headache she can feel coming on.

She doesn't hear him come in, probably due to his ninja like abilities, so of course she is startled when she feels his hands join hers on the back of her neck. She spins around in her chair to face him, causing his hands to drop from where they were and she immediately missed the warmth of them. The sudden movement makes her feel a little dizzy and she can just imagine that she has her hack face on right then, but luckily it quickly passes as she takes him in.

Oliver is standing there in one of the suits she has dubbed his 'Oliver Queen, playboy billionaire persona' suit. He cuts an impressive image as he stands there, tall and imposing with his 6 foot frame and his hands in his pockets, implying strength and sturdiness.

She knew that he had been scheduled to put in an appearance at the tonight, but she was not expecting to see him down in the basement.

"What are you doing here?" Felicity tilts her head at him in question.

"Well that is my club upstairs." Oliver points above them where Felicity can hear the pounding music. Felicity nods as she swings her chair back around to face her computers. She grabs the table to stead herself. She has got to stop doing that!

"Right, and I want you on top of me." It took all of 2 seconds for Felicity to realise what she has just said. She looks over her shoulder at him.

"I mean, no I don't. I just meant that I feel safer when I know you're around. Like when you're in the club." She corrects herself. "But now that I think about it maybe I do want you on top of me - it would probably be quite enjoyable. You'd probably be a little heavy, in the muscly sense not in the fat sense, but I'm sure we could work around it." Felicity muses, turning back to the screens.

"Are you drunk?" Oliver interrupts her with a smirk. Felicity spins to face him.

"What, no!" She immediately answers. Oliver raises an eyebrow, clearly not believing her. "Ok fine, maybe a little, but you can't assume that from me babbling. I say inappropriate things all the time."

"Yes you do. But you haven't lately." Oliver points out.

"What about the whole Team Arrow thing?"

"That wasn't inappropriate. That was just… wrong." Oliver explains.

"We need a name!" Felicity argues. "I can't very well say that I'm spending every night with you and John."

"I thought you loved spending the night with me?" Oliver grins, thinking back to her comment when he first made her his assistant.

Felicity sighs in annoyance. "You know I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Besides mister, you mentioned our nights first!"

"But it's funnier the way you say things."

"Ha ha. Laugh it up. The little IT girl and her inappropriate babbling." Felicity huffs. "Can we get back to this please?" Felicity indicates her computers which she turns back to.

"You sure are focused when you're drunk." Oliver comments, leaning forward so he can follow what she is showing him.

"Was." Felicity interjects. "I _was_ drunk. You're a total buzzkill."


	3. You're joking, right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finally makes it home after a long day

"Home sweet home."

Felicity groans with relief as she lets herself into her apartment. She drops her keys on the small table that is conveniently placed near the door and toes off her heels as she makes her way to her bedroom.

On her way through she throws her bag on her couch, not caring in the slightest when a few items spill out as it falls over. Felicity was just so glad to finally be home. Today had been a really long day, even by her standards. And she had known her fair share of long days – what with her day job helping Oliver in running a Fortune 500 company, and then her night job (again, helping Oliver!) using her technical skills to save Starling City.

* * *

Her day had started unnaturally early since the power had gone out the previous day and she hadn't noticed before going to bed, causing her alarm to start blaring when it was barely 4am. And then since she was awake, she couldn't get back to sleep so she resigned herself to getting ready for work _a lot_ earlier than she would normally.

Due to her early start she was at Queen Consolidated by 6am and with Oliver having back to back meetings all day, she had plenty of work to do. And when the CEO was busy, so was his executive assistant. Felicity felt like she had not stopped all day.

Any normal person would then be free to go home, put on their PJ's and lounge in front of the TV after such a grueling day at work. But no, not Felicity. She then had to go with Oliver and Dig to the Foundry since there was apparently Arrow business to do tonight (wasn't there always?).

They had been following an organised crime ring that had popped up recently. There had been some shady dealings with drugs and weapons in the Glades and it was time the Arrow put a stop to it. Only problem was they had no idea who was behind it. They had been getting a few tips here and there but when Oliver went to 'talk' to them, he found they were only low level thugs who had no idea who was pulling the strings.

So Felicity had set up some searches to try and find out who this person was. Nothing had come up yet, but Oliver was clearly hoping tonight would be different. Felicity wasn't so sure but had sat loyally at her computers while Oliver and Dig sparred on the mats in front of her.

"What was that?" Oliver immediately turned to Felicity when he heard a noise coming from one of her computers.

"Oh that's just me playing Candy Crush. Sorry, I forgot to turn the sound effects off."

"Felicity." Oliver groaned as he turned back to Dig who wasn't even trying to hide his grin.

It had been getting on to 10pm and her searches had still revealed nothing so Felicity opened her mouth, ready to call it a night and head home like Dig had done about 10 minutes ago. But before she could, the phone that Oliver used as the Arrow started ringing. Sure enough, it was Detective Lance and Felicity answered it immediately.

"Hello Detective."

"Smoak." Lance greeted. "You know I'm not exactly a Detective anymore."

Felicity shrugged even though he couldn't see her. "You are to me. What can we help you with?"

Turned out there was a hostage situation at one of the nearby gas stations, and unfortunately the police weren't going to be able to resolve the situation on their own. Detective Lance needed the Arrow's help, discreetly of course since the SCPD weren't exactly fans of the vigilante's activities. Oliver quickly agreed and Felicity knew that he much preferred going out and being all Arrow-y instead of stuck inside training.

"Go home, Felicity. There's no reason for you to stick around." Had been his parting words to her as he rushed out of the Foundry, but despite really wanting to Felicity couldn't leave. Not until she saw for herself that he had gotten back safely.

And he was lucky that she had stayed. Because when Oliver returned, he was looking a little worse for wear. Apparently the situation was a little more complicated than the Detective had let on. The reason why the police weren't able to resolve the situation, was because there was no clear shot which meant that Oliver had had to enter the gas station to try and talk to the robber. And the robber hadn't been interested in talking, so the two had engaged in a fight (albeit it one sided since Oliver was well – Oliver).

"Ow!" Oliver roared as Felicity finished sticking the gauze over his bruised ribs. The robber had gotten some lucky shots in.

"Stop being such a baby." Felicity threw the remainder of the roll at his head as she walked away.

* * *

So after being at the office since the early hours of the morning, and then spending all night in the Foundry, and then having to stick around later than usual to patch up an injured Oliver, it was close to 1am when Felicity finally got home.

Felicity quickly strips out of her office clothes, a tight dress typical of the style she now wore after her 'promotion' to Oliver's assistant. Pulling on her usual pyjamas of sleep shorts and an old MIT tshirt, Felicity goes and grabs her phone and tablet from her bag. Slipping into the kitchen, she fills a glass with cold water to keep on her bedside table since she had a habit of waking up thirsty in the middle of the night. Felicity glances at the dirty dishes piling up in her sink, but immediately dismisses the thought of washing them up as she longingly thinks of her bed.

Finally, Felicity crawls between the sheets of her oh so comfortable large bed. She would have thought that as soon as her head hit the pillow she'd be out like a light, but it takes a bit of tossing and turning until she finds the perfect spot.

"Ah, that's better." Felicity sighs as she closes her eyes, ready to let sleep take her. And then her phone starts ringing.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Felicity huffs as her eyes snap open. She fumbles next to her for her phone which she had thrown onto her bed earlier. She groans as she sees Oliver's name flash across the screen.

"This better be good." She says as greeting when she answers the call while still lying in bed.

"Your computer dinged. You better get back here."

"You're joking, right? Oliver it's 2 o'clock in the morning."

"Technically it's only 1.48. I thought you'd be more concerned about this?"

Felicity sighs, throwing a hand over her tired eyes.

"And I probably would be Oliver. If I didn't know what the ding meant, and I hadn't been the one who set up the computer to make the ding."

"It means your searches found something, right? I told you that you needed to get back here."

"Sorry Oliver, you won't be putting your arrow into anyone tonight." Felicity hears a choking sound coming from Oliver's end of the call as it takes her longer than normal to realise what she had just said. Wow, she must really be tired.

"I mean feel free to go put your _arrow_ into someone. I'm talking about your pointy green ones. Yeah you're not using them tonight. Unless you're into that. I'm not judging."

"Felicity." Oliver cuts off her ramble. "Are you coming to the Foundry or not?"

"No Oliver. The ding just means that the computer needs an update. Goodnight." Felicity hangs up the phone abruptly, throwing it to the end of her bed before rolling over onto her stomach and falling asleep.


	4. You're bleeding.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity needs Oliver's help

"This is hopeless!" Felicity groaned as she threw the tool down beside her and looked dejectedly at her failed attempt.

With no Arrow work to attend to that day, Felicity had decided to stay at home and get some chores done. She had woken up bright and early so she could do some cleaning around her apartment and tidied up the small space that she called home. Then she ventured down to the local Laundromat and did some loads of washing, since she was quickly running out of clean clothes.

And now she was back in her apartment trying to put together the wine rack that she had bought from Ikea months ago and had been staring at her judgingly while it sat in its box in her living room.

The first one had been easy – time consuming yeah, what with all of its parts and tiny screws - but she had eventually gotten there. And it looked _good_. Exactly what she wanted. But then the problems had started with the second one. The wooden slats just wouldn't slide into place, and now she couldn't get the metal bars to line up to allow her to screw them in where they needed to go.

The sky outside her apartment had slowly darkened as she sat there with the pieces and (unhelpful!) instructions around her. It was now getting onto 6pm and she was _tired_. She just wanted this done. Her first call would normally be to Dig, but unfortunately he was away this weekend spending some much deserved time with his ex-wife. Luckily, she had the resident vigilante on speed dial.

Not that he was on call for this type of thing – he was more into the crime fighting and the interrogating and just general grr-ing – but she needed help, and he was all about helping the city right? Granted she was not _the_ city, but the _word_ city was part of her name so it kind of fit.

And it wasn't like she was only calling him because he was the Arrow. He was also her friend, albeit it one that she wasn't seen in public with, but a friend nonetheless. Before she could overthink it, Felicity grabbed her phone and dialed his number.

"Felicity? What's wrong?" Oliver answered before the phone had even completed one ring.

"What kind of greeting is that? Can't a friend just call another friend?"

"Of course. But you only usually call when something is wrong." Oliver reasoned.

"Huh, I probably do." Felicity couldn't argue. "So there kind of is something wrong."

"What!?" Felicity could hear movement on Oliver's and knew that he was stalking towards his front door.

"Put your arrows away Oliver. It's just my wine rack." Felicity rolled her eyes at his overreaction.

"You're what?"

"I can't put my wine rack together." Felicity sighed, feeling her throat closing with frustrated tears. "Can you just come over?"

"What makes you think I can help?"

Reluctantly, Felicity answered him. "Okay maybe youdid a pretty decent job of setting up the first lair. I mean you managed to put up the salmon ladder, so you must be good with tools and putting things together."

"And?" Oliver prompted.

"And you're a guy ok?" Felicity huffed, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "It's like built into you to just _know_ how to do things like this."

"Is it?" Felicity could just _hear_ the smirk in Oliver's voice but breathed a sigh of relief when he continued. "I'll be there soon."

* * *

"You're bleeding." Oliver said as soon as Felicity opened the door. Felicity rolled her eyes as she stepped to the side and waved him in.

"We have got to work on your people skills."

"Doesn't change the fact that you're bleeding." He pointed out as he indicated her tea towel wrapped hand.

"It's nothing." Felicity shrugged as she waved away his concern. "One of the pieces of wood was being particularly stubborn and my hand slipped while I was trying to push it into place, causing my poor palm to impale itself onto the sharp metal."

"That doesn't sound good. Are you okay?"

"Seriously Oliver, it's fine. I was just being my usual clumsy self." Felicity assured him as she led him to the living room where the half-finished wine rack was.

"Okay," Oliver slowly replied, but she could tell he was still not convinced. "Where do you want me?"

Felicity's steps faltered at his question, causing him to collide with her back because she had stopped suddenly. His hands automatically raised to her shoulders to steady her.

"Sorry." Felicity shook her head, willing away the image of him saying those same words in a _very_ different context. Now was not the time. "Um, right there. I need a second pair of hands."

Oliver took a seat on the floor beside the weird contraption that she pointed to.

"I managed to get all of the wooden pieces into place, but now I need to screw in these metal pieces." Felicity handed Oliver one of the metal pieces that she was talking about as she sat beside him.

"Alright. Where do we start?"

* * *

Half an hour later, Oliver and Felicity had managed to get all of the metal strips attached to the wood in the crisscross pattern that the instructions asked for, albeit with a few of the screws missing. Because the problem they now faced was that with some of the metal already screwed in, the strips were difficult to move and the remaining holes wouldn't line up.

"How did you manage to do this the first time?" Oliver asked, clearly frustrated with the task.

"Trust me. It wasn't this difficult." Felicity huffed as she pulled the metal every which way trying to get the holes to line up.

"Wait!" Oliver suddenly yelled, making Felicity pause in her movements.

"Hold it there." Oliver demanded as he grabbed a screw and placed it in the gap she had created.

"Oliver, my hole is too small for you to screw."

Before Felicity's mind could catch up to her mouth, Oliver responded.

"You'd be amazed what I can do with small spaces." He winked, as he tightened the screw in place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes... these wine racks DO exist. I put one together with my sister :)


	5. Why won't you believe me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh, Felicity is sick. But can Oliver be CEO without his Girl Wednesday?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it was at this point I realised I had neglected my idea to make this about Team Arrow. So enjoy some Dig!

"Dig, I said no." Felicity growled at her friend as he stood stoically in his usual position against the glass door leading into Oliver's office.

"Seriously, I'm… I'm… achoo. Fine?"

"Right. Do you want to try that again without the sneeze and the question?"

"Dig it was just a little sneeze."

"Felicity you've been sneezing all morning. And you really don't look good."

"I think we've established that there is no right way to take that."

"Sorry but it's true." He shrugged.

"Dig, I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine." She patted his chest as she walked past him in to Oliver's office to put some papers on his desk that he needed to read when he got back from getting his coffee.

"Yeah. I'm not believing you." He popped some gum and chewed slowly as he watched her return to her desk.

"Remind me again why you're here and not with Oliver? I thought you're secret identity is his black driver, and technically you're his bodyguard."

"The coffee shop is only around the corner, therefore no need to be driven and no need for a bodyguard." Dig replied easily.

"So lucky me gets to be judged this morning huh? I'm not going home."

"Well we'll just wait and see what Oliver says about that." Dig nodded towards the elevators as one signaled that it had just arrived.

"What I say about what?" Oliver asked as he walked towards them, carrying three large coffee cups.

"I'm not going home."

"Felicity is going home."

Dig and Felicity both answered at the same time.

"Okay." He replied slowly as he handed each of them their coffee. Sipping his own, he made his way into his office.

"Does somebody want to tell me what's going on?"

Felicity waved away Oliver's question like it was unimportant and went back to typing something on her computer. Dig opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when Felicity glared at him. He opened it for a second time, only to shut it again when Felicity mimed zipping her mouth closed.

"Felicity is sick." Dig answered, striding quickly over to Oliver's desk when he saw Felicity's head snap up from her screens.

"Dig!" Felicity yelled as she jumped out of her chair and also hurried into Oliver's office.

"You are so not going to able to get into your emails for a week." Felicity threatened with a poke to his chest when she came to a stop beside him. Though the threat kind of got lost when she sneezed.

"She's been doing that all morning." Dig pointed his thumb in Felicity's direction.

"Make that a month."

Dig moved to stand behind Oliver's chair which earned an eyebrow raise from Felicity and a chuckle from Oliver, though he had the sense to hide his amusement behind a cough.

"Are you seriously hiding behind Oliver right now?"

"It's my job to be near him at all times." Dig stood up straighter in an attempt to look professional.

"Yeah, okay." Felicity said sarcastically, clearly not at all buying it. "Oliver, I'm really fine. Don't listen to him."

"You know now that he said it, you don't look well." Oliver pointed out.

"Gee thanks." Felicity was sarcastic as she turned and started walking back to her desk. Unfortunately she didn't make it very far since she had to stop after a few steps when she ended up doubled over with a coughing fit.

"Felicity, why don't you go home and rest." Oliver suggested, while Dig stood next to him nodding in agreement.

"Like you can run this place without me." Felicity scoffed, turning to face her boss.

"I'm sure I'll manage."

"Oliver, how many meetings do you have today?" Felicity asked him innocently.

"Um, 2? No, no. It's 3. I definitely remember that I have 3 meetings today." He said confidently.

"Actually, you have 5 meetings today." Felicity held up all five fingers. "One this morning with Mark from Accounting, then 10am with David and Greg from HR, then 12 o'clock with Isabel, then 2pm with the Board, then finally 5pm with Sandra and Richard from Applied Sciences." One by one she dropped a finger as she counted them all off.

"So I'll ask them to send me a temp for the day." He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"And ruin all of my systems. I don't think so."

"Well I'll cancel some of the meetings then, and reschedule for tomorrow. It'll be fine."

"No, it won't."

"Why won't you believe me?"

"Do you mean apart from the fact that you felt the need to pull me all the way up here from the job I was very qualified for and actually really good at? Or the part where I'm here every day from 6am to 8pm typing reports and doing other CEO related tasks that _you_ are supposed to do?"

"She does do your job really well man." Dig interrupted. Oliver glared at him.

"Not helping Dig. Felicity just because you're extremely good at this job, doesn't mean you can't take a day off."

"I don't need a day off." Felicity argued as she stalked back to her desk. Oliver followed her out and watched as she sat back down.

"Fine. If you don't sneeze within the next 2 minutes you can stay. If I hear _anything_ from you, then you are going home. I will even physically remove you if I have to."

Felicity opened her mouth to protest.

"And don't think I won't." Oliver threatened as he stood there with his arms crossed, an exact replica of the position Dig held behind him.

The three stood in silence. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the second hand from the clock on the far wall. Felicity's eyes started watering, an indication that she needed to sneeze. It was clear that she was trying to hold it in, but she emitted a small 'eep' sound anyway.

"Fine!" Felicity threw her hands up in defeat.

Oliver and Dig wore matching grins as they watched on while their blonde IT girl got her things ready to leave. Felicity angrily threw her belongings into her handbag before storming past Oliver and Dig on her way to the elevators.

"Ridiculous." She muttered as she jabbed the down button and waited for the doors to open.

* * *

While Felicity was still not happy about being sent home, deep down she knew that relaxing on the lounge wearing her comfortable pj's was a lot better than having to be at work.

Since she spent a good portion of her time with Oliver and Dig, and any spare time catching up on much needed sleep and the occasional cleaning, she was severely behind on her shows. So being sent home actually turned out to be a good thing, as she had managed to catch up on all of the latest episodes of _Game of Thrones_ and she could safely go back onto Facebook and Twitter.

She was just watching the end of the last episode when there was a knock at her door. Pausing the show, she untucked her feet from beneath her and padded barefoot to go answer it. Without bothering to check who it was since her social life was fairly limited at the moment meaning there was only a few people who it could be, she swung open the door.

Only to be met with a whole lot of sweater clad chest. Felicity craned her neck up to look into the face of Oliver, as it loomed almost a good 6 inches above her.

"Didn't you hear? I'm sick. I could be contagious." Felicity greeted him, adding a small cough to emphasise her point.

"I come bearing gifts." Oliver held up a brown paper bag in offering.

"Ooh, presents!" Felicity snatched the bag from him before heading back to her spot on the lounge. "You may enter."

Oliver chuckled as he followed Felicity to the living room.

"Do you even want to know what I brought before you invite me in?"

"It's got to be good for you to risk showing up here after that stunt you and Dig pulled this morning." Felicity shrugged as she pulled out a small tub of mint chocolate chip ice-cream.

"Ice-cream, really? You're the one that said I was sick. Is ice-cream really the right thing to be giving to a sick person?" Felicity raised an eyebrow as she questioned him. Oliver shrugged.

"It's your favourite. I figured it would cheer you up."

"I have a cold Oliver, I'm not depressed. I don't need ice-cream" Felicity corrected him, all the while tucking into said ice-cream with the plastic spoon she also found in the bag.

"I can see that." Oliver rolled his eyes at her antics as he took a seat on the couch next to her, pulling her feet that she had curled up next to her to lay across his lap.

"So what are we watching?" he asked casually as he made himself comfortable.


	6. Don't touch me!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity just wants one night out. Oliver disagrees.

"Alright guys. I'm heading out." Felicity announced after she had shut down her computers. She grabbed her bag and gave a quick wave to the two men who were sparring over at the mats before heading towards the exit.

"What?" Oliver demanded in that stupid bossy tone he sometimes got, as he paused in his pseudo-fight with Diggle.

"I'm sure what Oliver meant to say was – 'Goodnight, Felicity. See you tomorrow'." Dig reasoned as he clapped a hand on Oliver's shoulder and threw him a glare.

"No, I meant what I said." Oliver returned the glare as he shrugged off Diggle's hand and stalked towards where Felicity had stopped at the bottom of the stairs.

"It's not even 9 o'clock. We have work to do." He ordered.

"As much as I enjoy sitting here and watching you without a shirt on while you go about your training routine, I'd hardly consider it _work_." Felicity explained.

"I'm sure you were running searches, or doing research, or _something_ over there." Oliver indicated the computers that she had just left.

"Not really." Felicity shrugged. "At least nothing that can't wait until tomorrow. I have plans."

"Since when?" Oliver was confused. Surely if she had made plans, he would know about it.

"Again, I think what Oliver meant to say was – 'Have fun, Felicity. See you tomorrow'." Dig chimed in.

"Stop putting words in my mouth." Oliver retorted, turning and pointing a finger in Diggle's direction. "I just meant that you don't usually have plans."

"Oliver, my whole life does not revolve around _this_." Felicity pointed out, waving a hand around the lair to indicate what she meant by 'this'.

"Okay, so maybe a good 90% of my life revolves around it." Felicity corrected when she saw the disbelieving looks on Oliver and Dig's face. "But that still leaves me with 10% which I can choose to spend any damn well way I please."

"She has a point, man. You have your family and I have Carly and AJ, but what does Felicity have? Probably just us and her job, she deserves a night out."

"Thanks Dig. I guess. Point is, I can make plans."

"Fine." Oliver relented, albeit reluctantly. "Just make sure you're contactable at all times."

Felicity nodded, though she rolled her eyes at his request, as she spun on her heel and made her way up the stairs.

* * *

Felicity hadn't been lying – she did have plans. She rushed home to change into the clothes and accessories that she had laid out that morning, determined to look at least half-way decent and not at all like her usual dressed down Monday to Friday look that she normally sported.

Looking in the full length mirror that hung beside her front door, Felicity was satisfied that with her hair down and straight, glasses gone and replaced with contacts and soft blue cocktail dress that hugged her in all the right places, she not only looked good but she might even look _hot_.

Grinning, Felicity grabbed her matching blue clutch and slipped on her 6 inch black heels before heading out to the waiting cab that she had called for earlier.

Felicity smiled as she entered _Rouge_ , one of the newest nightclub's to open in Starling in an effort to compete with Oliver's club on the other side of the city. While she loved what she did for Oliver and believed in his cause to protect the city, sometimes it got to be too much. There were long days at work, followed by even longer nights at the Foundry, so she was going to enjoy herself tonight. And drink alcohol – lots and lots of alcohol.

Felicity's smile turned into a grin as she spotted her friends sitting at a nearby table. She waved as she approached them and the group of 5 girls stood to offer hugs and squeals of welcome. This is what she needed. A night away from Oliver and all his broodiness. Just one of the reasons she had quickly mentioned this club after her friends had suggested that they go to _Verdant_. What was the point in getting the night off from Arrow business if she just went to his club?

* * *

It was getting late but Felicity was determined to stay out for as long as she could handle it. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her group of friends. After a number of shots, and numerous dances, each girl had said goodnight and headed home. Of course not without offering to take Felicity home as well, but she declined.

Felicity was disappointed that she was now alone, but the music was still pumping and she had re-situated herself at the bar where she sipped on her latest cocktail, and be in a position to get another one when it was finished. She still wore a smile as she bopped her head to the beat and happily drank her drink. Thinking of nothing, she felt giddy as she let her mind drift.

She was brought back to reality when she noticed out of the corner of her eye, someone sit down at the stool beside her. She paid the person no mind, until her spoke to her.

"Hey there." He greeted, raising his voice slightly so that he could be heard over the music. Felicity pasted on a polite smile as she turned to the stranger.

"Hi." The smile became a genuine one when she noticed that the stranger was a very cute brunette.

"Does your boyfriend know you're out at-" he checked his watch. "2am?"

Felicity lightly giggled. "Subtle."

"I thought I'd get that awkward conversation out of the way." He shrugged. "Matt."

"Felicity." She replied as she took his offered hand in a light handshake.

"So what brings you here tonight?" Matt asked.

"Just hanging out with some friends. I figured I deserved a girl's night out."

"Uh huh. And where are these friends now?" Matt glanced around the room but there was no one looking for Felicity.

"Gone." Felicity admitted sadly. "But that didn't mean that _I_ had to go home." She finished, pointing to herself.

"Been one of those days has it?"

"More like one of those weeks. No, make that one of those _months_."

Matt chuckled. "Tell me about it."

And so Felicity did.

* * *

Felicity and Matt had been talking for a good 20 minutes about everything and nothing. It was nice to talk to someone who was outside the bubble of Oliver, Dig and the Arrow. Speaking of which. Felicity's smile fell as she glanced over Matt's shoulder and saw none other than Oliver Queen at the entrance. And of course, as soon as he had entered he had noticed her and was on his way over.

Matt noticed the change in Felicity's expression. "Something wrong?"

"Uh." Felicity stuttered. _Think Felicity_. "My drink's empty. Do you mind?" Felicity held up her empty glass and pointed to the bartender, who thankfully was at the other end of the bar.

"Sure. Same?"

"Mm hmm." Felicity nodded, keeping a smile on her face as she wished for Matt to leave before he encountered an unpredictable Oliver.

"Felicity." Oliver said tightly, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at her.

"Oliver." Felicity greeted him back, swinging around in her stool to face him. She checked over her shoulder to make sure that Matt was out of ear shot.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked her.

"I said I had plans." Felicity shrugged. "How did you find me anyway?"

Oliver pointed at her clutch that was sitting on the bar. "Your phone."

"What?"

"I traced your phone."

"What?" she repeated, this time with a bit more anger.

Oliver sighed. "Your phone emits a signal that shows me where you are. Or at least where your phone is. I used the program on the computer to locate the signal."

"No, I know _how_ it's done." Felicity waved away his explanation. "I meant _why_ would you do that? That's an invasion of privacy Oliver!"

"Like you've never traced my phone."

"That's different and you know it. You could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere so I have to know where you are."

"You could have been lying dead in a ditch somewhere too. I needed to know you were safe."

"Of course you did." Felicity rolled her eyes, knowing all about his guilt complex. "Well here I am. Safe. So you can go now." Felicity shooed him away as she saw Matt returning.

"And you're coming with me." It was not a question and Oliver reached for Felicity's arm.

"Don't touch me!" Felicity pulled her arm from his grasp.

"Is everything alright here?" Matt asked as he approached the pair, setting Felicity's drink on the bar behind her.

"Peachy." Felicity deadpanned, glaring at Oliver. Oliver pasted on his 'playboy-billionaire' smile as he turned to face the newcomer. Though it quickly fell when he saw who it was.

"Matt Cornwell."

"Oliver Queen." Matt responded in kind, also not liking who Felicity's new friend was.

"Do you two know each other?" Felicity asked the two men, noticing the tension that had just arisen within the small group.

"We grew up together." Matt nodded.

"And went to school together." Oliver added. "Matt went to one of the four schools I dropped out of."

"Oh. Great." Felicity could not think of anything else to say. "Well, Oliver was just leaving."

"Actually I think I'll stay and have a drink." Oliver grinned, raising his arm to motion for the bartender. But before he could, Felicity grabbed it and pushed it down.

"Actually you won't. I'll see you tomorrow." Felicity titled her head in the direction of the exit, willing Oliver to leave.

"Wait, Oliver is your boss?" Matt asked incredulously.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean I guess _technically_ he is, what with his name on my building and all. But not in the _strict_ sense of the word. I don't take orders from him or anything."

"Except at night." Oliver added, a smirk aimed at Matt. Matt's face dropped at Oliver's implication, and Felicity turned a nice shade of red.

"He didn't mean it like that." Felicity shook her head as she slapped Oliver on the chest for his comment. "I set up the computers and system at his club, and sometimes I'm there are night."

"Right, that's what I meant." Oliver shrugged, but the smirk stayed in place.

"Go. Now." Felicity pushed out through gritted teeth, as she physically pushed Oliver towards the exit - grateful when he turned to leave.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's all folks! Once I get another 6 out on fanfiction.net, I will post them here. If you can't wait that long - you can go and follow this story over there.
> 
> And if you have any ideas on scenarios you would like to see, drop me a line :)


	7. I'd rather die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver is very protective of Felicity. But he doesn't have to be!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, I wrote another 6 chapters for this story - so here they are.
> 
> This one is nothing more than a drabble...

"Yeah. I don't think so." Felicity replied bluntly, not looking up from her computer screen as she continued typing, ignoring an irate Oliver who was standing behind the said computer.

"Felicity." Oliver barked. "This is serious. Detective Lance and the Count have already made the connection between you and the Arrow."

"Please. That's only two people."

"Yeah well, two too many in my opinion." Oliver fumed, crossing his arms in front of his sweaty bare chest.

"She's right, man. It's only two people." Dig piped in from his position against the med table where he was resting after the sparring session he had just had with Oliver. Felicity smiled in his direction grateful that he saw things her way. That was until he continued speaking.

"Honestly I'm surprised that more people haven't joined the dots."

"They probably have and we just don't know about it yet." Oliver admitted with a sigh. "So that's why from now on, you do not go anywhere unless you're with me or Dig, understood?"

"No I don't need a babysitter. I'd rather die." Felicity glanced over at John. "No offense."

"None taken." Diggle shrugged easily, taking a gulp of water from the bottle he was holding.

"Felicity. This is not up for discussion." Oliver ordered as he rounded the table to get in her personal space. He spun her chair so she was facing him, bending slightly so they were face to face with one hand on the top of her chair and one hand on the computer desk.

"Understood?"

"Oliver, you stopped being intimidating to me from the second I found you bleeding in my car. So this-" she indicated his closeness. "Is not working."

"Understood?" Oliver ignored her and leaved impossibly closer.

"I can take care of myself Oliver." Felicity rolled her eyes at his antics.

"Like if someone did something like this?" Quickly, Oliver grabbed Felicity's right arm and bent it behind her back while pushing her against the table so her face was flat next to the keyboard.

"You wouldn't hurt me." Felicity said confidently.

"But I could." Oliver countered.

"But you won't. So this is ridiculous." Felicity tried pushing up against his hand but it was like a vice grip on the back of her neck and she couldn't move.

"Oliver." Diggle warned as he started walking over to them since he noticed that Felicity's face was growing redder as she continued to struggle against his hold. Oliver silenced him with a glare and he didn't come any closer.

"I'm serious Felicity, what would you do?"

"Fine, I don't know alright." Felicity yelled in defeat, but as soon as she felt Oliver loosen his hold on her she used her free left hand to grab the hand against her neck and spun to kick Oliver's feet from under him. Off balance, he fell and she twisted his arm so that he landed face first on the floor and she put a knee in the middle of his back to keep him there.

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponent, Mr Queen." Felicity smirked from her spot on his back

"Where did you learn how to do that?" Oliver asked. Felicity shrugged even though he couldn't see her from his position on the floor.

"You think after spending over a year with you guys I haven't picked up a few things?"

"Dig, did you teach her that?"

"Maybe." Diggle and Felicity hit a high five as he came to stand beside his two friends.


	8. Who do you think you are?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Arrow needs some tech help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Episode specific - set during An Innocent Man (1x04)
> 
> Does it bother anyone else that Felicity never got to meet the Arrow?

Felicity stretches out her legs in an effort to get more comfortable on her couch as she mindlessly watches the random movie playing out on the screen. She places another spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice-cream into her mouth, savouring the taste of it as she holds it between her cheeks for a second before swallowing.

It had been another long day at Queen Consolidated and while Felicity loved her job there, how hard was it to check that the monitor was plugged in before they called for IT assistance when their computer wouldn't turn on. Felicity sighs in frustration as she dives into the pint of ice-cream once more, while trying to pay attention to the story of the movie that she had found when flipping through the channels earlier.

With all the lights in the apartment turned off, when there is a particularly dark scene in the movie where the hero walks through a sewerage tunnel, the TV becomes somewhat of a mirror so Felicity can see a figure standing in her bedroom doorway behind her. She shakes her head and since she thinks it's just her imagination playing tricks, she looks over her shoulder quickly not really expecting to see anything there.

When she realises that she's wrong and there is someone standing there, she jumps from the couch in fright. She turns to face the stranger and holds her spoon out in front of her like it is some dangerous weapon.

"Woah."

"I'm not going to hurt you Felicity." His synthesised voice answers as he holds his arms out to the side of his body, showing that he means no harm.

"Right, like I'm going to believe you." Felicity rolls her eyes, not relaxing her stance one bit. "And how do you know my name? Or better yet, how do you know where I live?"

"I need your help." He tells her, clearly ignoring the questions she has just thrown at him.

"And why would I help you?"

"You come highly recommended." And though it's hard to tell with the synthesiser on, Felicity thinks she can hear a smile in his voice.

"Of course I do. I'm the best." Felicity answers simply with a shrug. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm not sure I should help you in whatever shady dealings you have going on. Let's face it, we're probably talking illegal as well."

"You like a challenge." He points out. Felicity isn't sure if she should be impressed or annoyed with his confident tone. She goes with annoyed.

"Who do you think you are? You can't just waltz in here and assume you know me." Felicity retorts, waving her hand in the direction he came from.

"I didn't _waltz._ I came in through the window."

"You what?" Felicity glares, placing her hands on her hips trying to look intimidating.

"You left your bedroom window unlocked. You shouldn't do that by the way." He points back into the room. Felicity chooses to pretend that the vigilante of all people did not just give her _safety_ advice.

"You know that's breaking and entering right?"

"I didn't break anything. It was unlocked."

"That's still considered a break buddy. Opening a window is _breaking_ the seal of the house."

Even without being able to see his face, Felicity knows that he is wearing a confused expression at her words so she continues on.

"I read a lot. You know, with all the felonies you commit you should probably be more on top of all the legal speak."

"Will you help me or not?" He asks, once again ignoring what she just said.

"You haven't actually told me what you need my help with." Felicity reasons. She sees him give a small nod before reaching for an arrow in his quiver, making sure to hold his bow far away so she can see that he isn't planning on using it. He holds the arrow up for her to see.

"I think everyone not living under a rock knows that they are your weapon of choice. I'm pretty sure you know what to do with that. Why do you need my help?"

"This one's a bit different." He admits, reaching out as if to hand it to her. But with almost 2 feet between them, plus a couch, that wasn't going to happen.

"Ok." Felicity sighs as she waves him over, giving him her permission to approach so that she could look at the thing. He walks closer, coming around the couch so they are now standing face to face. She notices that he slightly drops his head so that his face remains in the shadow of his hood and she can't really see his features. But she can just make out the lower part of his rather defined jaw that is covered with a light spattering of facial hair.

Now that it's in her hands and she can get a closer look at it, she sees that the arrow has something attached to the end of it. At her questioning glance he explains.

"It's a recording device. I'm looking into something and I'm hoping to record a certain conversation."

"Right, but there are a number of recording devices out there. Why do you need it attached to an arrow?"

"Delivery purposes." He shrugs. Felicity gags just a little bit.

"This isn't going _in_ someone right? Because I don't think it's going to work after that."

"Don't worry Felicity." He assures her laying a hand on her shoulder, though he doesn't elaborate on what he _is_ going to be doing with the arrow. Felicity throws him a look but takes a seat on the couch so she can work on the arrow head.

Out of the corner of her eye, Felicity sees the vigilante take a seat beside her on the couch. He silently watches as she grabs a small tool kit from under her coffee table and proceed to pull apart the recording device so she can get to the wiring. It looks complicated with wires going every which way, but Felicity confidently works on the thing.

"So what do I call you?" Felicity attempts to strike up a conversation with the hooded mystery next to her. He doesn't answer so Felicity pushes.

"Oh come on. You clearly know my name. That should go both ways." Felicity motions between the two of them. Again, he doesn't answer.

"Fine." Felicity huffs, turning back to her work. "I'll make one up then shall I? You clearly like pointy things so how about – Point?"

"No." he responds with a scoff.

"Well what about the get up." She indicates his outfit. "You have a thing for green so – Jade?"

"That a girl's name." he dismisses. Felicity shrugs.

"What would you suggest then? Something original like Arrow?"

"Yes." He agrees quickly.

"Of course your name would be Arrow." Felicity hands him back the arrow with the now working recording device. "All done."

"Thank you." He acknowledges as he takes the arrow from her, his gloved hand briefly coming into contact with her long fingers. Being this close to him, Felicity can faintly smell is scent of leather and sweat, and something else that she can't pinpoint so must just be uniquely _him_.

"Anytime." Felicity nods as she watches him walk back to her bedroom, and the window he came in through. "I mean not _any_ time. Like don't come around at 3 in the morning because I'd be asleep." She corrects.

Felicity thinks she hears a chuckle come from the Arrow, but with the synthesiser masking his natural tone she can't be sure. Felicity decides to show him that she isn't an idiot.

"Bye Oliver." He freezes for a fraction of a second but then he is walking away, neither confirming nor denying what Felicity has correctly guessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably my favourite so far...


	9. Promise me you'll never do that again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity does not appreciate Laurels comments to Oliver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another episode specific fic - set during 2x21
> 
> May be a bit OOC - this one was more about MY reactions to this scene lol

I worriedly looked at Oliver as he lay sprawled on the desk. But then his fingers twitched and I knew that he would be okay and was waking up. Though he did not look happy as he glanced first at me and then at John as we stood around him.

"Diggle, what the hell?" He started to ask, but then he noticed the other person in the room. Laurel Lance.

"Slade Wilson. He told me who you were."

"Did he hurt you?"

I stood my ground as Oliver rose from the chair, wanting to stay close since I was unsure how the tranquiliser would have affected him.

"No, he was trying to hurt you." Laurel told him, but I could see that he was looking at me. It almost looked like he was trying to tell me _'I told you so'_. As Laurel continued talking, she walked closer so John and I remained where we were on either side of Oliver, thinking Laurel was going to stand between us so that she would be in front of Oliver. But as she got closer she changed course and came towards where I was standing so that I was forced to move to stand next to John while she took my original place at Oliver's side.

I didn't appreciate her coming into _our_ home and acting like she owned the place, but I bit my tongue and stood there in silence while the two interacted.

"They told me what you were planning to do."

"It's what I have to do." Oliver corrected her.

Out of the blue, Laurel asked if she could have a moment with him. This got my back up. Granted she didn't know about the secondary lair and the emotional scene that Oliver and I had gone through. But she had _just_ said it herself. John and I were his partners. Didn't she think that we would have already tried to talk this stubbornness out of him?

I hesitated to step away, first looking at Oliver and then over at John. Oliver would not look at us so I wasn't sure how he felt about this situation, but I was expecting for John to have something to say about it. He had been burnt before because of Oliver's attachment to Laurel, and there was too much at stake right now for it to happen again. But surprisingly he did nothing and instead gently nudged me to walk away. Reluctantly I did so, but not before noticing out of the corner of my eye that Oliver was closely monitoring our retreat. I suspected that with Slade out there he was uncomfortable when we were out of his sight.

I gave Oliver a reassuring smile as John and I made our way further into the lair. I turned my back on Laurel and Oliver and faced the table in front of me, mindlessly playing with the arrows that Oliver always left lying around. Now I wasn't _trying_ to listen, and Laurel kind of spoke softly, but we were in a basement so of course sound travelled which meant that I could basically hear every word.

I cringed when I heard Laurel ask him why he didn't tell her. Maybe it was the fact that she had called him a killer, or even that she had formed a whole team to go after him? I really didn't get that girl. So what if at one point she had seemingly accepted the vigilante and his ways. All she had done after the Undertaking was try to have him arrested, no wonder Oliver hadn't wanted to tell her about his nighttime activities.

And then she brought up Tommy and I could hear the pain in Oliver's voice. My heart went out to him. Didn't she realise that she was just bringing up bad memories? Plus she called him Ollie. Really? You'd think by now she would have realised that he is not that person anymore. Not _once_ have I called him Ollie. The stupid juvenile name was a representation of the person he was before the island, not the man that had returned. The one who was trying to save this city. It was just Oliver.

When Laurel mentioned us, I couldn't help but glance over my shoulder to try and judge how this little pep talk was going. I could tell from the look on Oliver's face that Laurel wasn't getting anywhere. Trying to physically move the man was like trying to move a brick wall, and when trying to get through to him - well let's just say that the same analogy applied. Though I couldn't help but feel a little justified when I saw that there wasn't really any emotion in Oliver's face as Laurel was talking to him. It seemed like I wasn't the only person he wasn't going to be listening to today.

"But I know you. I know you like I know my own name." I scoffed when I heard those words from Laurel. The idea that she knew him was ridiculous, which apparently she thought so too since she added that disclaimer. I was pleased to hear her acknowledge that the idea that she knew him was stupid, given his secret that she hadn't even managed to work out for herself. But then she had to continue with her absurd line of thought. "I know who you are in your bones." I heard her say.

Wait - what?! Was she serious? I had had enough. I spun around, probably flicking John with my ponytail in the process, and stormed over there.

"You don't know him." I yelled at her, squeezing between her and Oliver so that I was in her face. I knew John had followed me and found out I was right when I saw his hand on my arm, trying to pull me away but I just shrugged him off.

"If you knew him. At all. Then you would have realised that when he returned from that island 2 years ago, he was not the same person as your precious _Ollie_ who had boarded that yacht with your sister. You would have realised _last year_ that he was the Hood. You spoke to him enough times as the Arrow. You don't know him." I repeated, fuming at the sheer arrogance of this woman in front of me.

"And I suppose you do?" Laurel sneered. "What do you know? You're just his secretary."

Before either Oliver or John could move, I raised my hand and brought it down hard against Laurel's cheek. There was a resounding crack as my hand made contact with her face and then Laurel was covering the quickly forming red mark with both of her hands.

I could see tears swimming at the edges of Laurel's eyes as she stared at me in shock. I didn't want to even think of the look currently on Oliver's face as I continued to glare at her. My face remained passive as I watched Laurel look behind me to Oliver for help. But thankfully the man remained silent.

I watched as Laurel opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but she must have thought better of it because with one last glance at me she rushed up the stairs. When I heard the metal door slam behind her, I allowed a few tears to slip out.

"Ow." I cried in pain as I grabbed the hand that I had slapped Laurel with, with my good hand and held it to my chest.

"I'll get you some ice." John chuckled as he went to the back were the medical supplies were.

"Felicity." Oliver sighed, grabbing my shoulders so that he could turn me to face him. Scared of his response, I refused to look up at him.

"Hey." He said gently as he lifted my chin with his forefinger so that I was looking him in the eyes. Without breaking eye contact, he reached out with both hands to grab my sore one and cradled it with some pressure to try and soothe the sting.

"Promise me you'll never do that again."

"What? Yell at Gorgeous Laurel, or hit her?"

"Preferably both. But I'm more talking about this." Oliver held up my injured hand that was still sandwiched between both of his.

"I don't want you getting hurt." he frowned down at me. I sighed.

"Fine. It was stupid anyway, I probably hurt my hand more than I hurt her face."

"I don't know about that. Did you see the mark you left?" John grinned as he returned with the ice pack. Oliver just shook his head as he caught the ice pack when John threw it and placed it on my palm.


	10. Tell me the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea observes Felicity and Oliver at lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first foray into Thea :)

"Felicity Smoak?"

Felicity jumped at the sound of someone calling her name, causing her to bump her head on the underside of her desk as she was currently underneath it going through her bag.

"Oof." Felicity exhaled on a breath as she rubbed the now tender spot forming under her blonde hair and emerged to see Thea Queen standing on the other side of her desk.

"Hi. I'm…" Thea started.

"I know who you are." Felicity waved away the introduction. "You're Miss Queen."

"Woah, no. That sounds way too formal. Call me Thea."

"Thea." Felicity nodded in greeting, as a vague feeling of de ja vu washed over her. At least there was no babbling involved this time. _Though the day was still young_. Felicity grinned at the errant thought.

"O-kay" Thea dragged out the word, throwing Felicity a look like she was a little bit weird.

"So is Ollie around?" she asked as she looked through the glass wall that separated Felicity's space from Oliver's office. Sure enough, there he sat at his large desk. On the phone.

Thea waved at him in greeting and he raised a hand in acknowledgment when he saw his little sister standing outside. He held up one finger, the universal sign of asking her to wait.

"He'll just be a minute." Felicity verbalized when she saw the gesture.

She had only that morning reminded Oliver of the lunch plans that the two Queen siblings had today. Felicity knew that Oliver had been trying harder with Thea since he got back from his sudden departure after the Undertaking, so he was bound to be finishing up with that phone call soon.

Just in case, Felicity discreetly typed out an email to him with the subject line "THEA'S HERE – LUNCH" as a gentle reminder.

Felicity smiled politely at the younger Queen and waved towards a leather couch that sat against the wall to her right.

"You can just take a seat and wait for him over there." Felicity told her, but Thea obviously had other ideas as she came around and made herself comfortable on the corner of Felicity's desk. Felicity watched in silence as Thea jumped up to take a seat on the thick glass.

"So, what were you doing?" Thea asked as she swung her legs absently and picked up a random object sitting on Felicity's desk near where she sat.

"This is ugly." Thea nonchalantly shrugged, putting it back down with her nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Uh, working. Always working." Felicity stuttered as she swung the chair around to face her screen, opening her email program and absently scrolling through them, hoping that she looked like she had been busy.

In actual fact just before Thea had arrived, Felicity had been playing a game on her phone since she had managed to organise CEO Oliver's calendar for the next week, all within a couple of hours of getting to work that morning. She had even managed to set up a new search for any crime related event in the city and was just waiting on a hit from her searches so Arrow Oliver would have something to do tonight.

"Boring. I'm not interested in anything to do with QC." Thea rolled her eyes. "I meant what were you doing under the desk when I came in before?" She clarified, pointing to the spot Felicity had risen from earlier.

"Oh. I could have sworn that I had brought a sandwich for lunch today, but it wasn't in the office fridge when I went to get it earlier. And it's clearly not on my desk." Felicity waved at the neat and tidy area around her. It would have been obvious if there was a sandwich there.

"So I thought maybe I had left it in my bag." Felicity shrugged, also pointing to where she had been kneeling earlier and Thea could now see the large black and blue tote that was there.

"Maybe you put it in one of those drawers?" Thea indicated the few drawers that were attached to Felicity's desk on the edge opposite to where Thea was perched. Felicity nodded in agreement as she started opening the drawers and rummaging through their contents, pulling out random objects so she could get a better look at what was in there.

* * *

"Speedy." Oliver called out to his sister as he walked out of the glass door of his office to where the two girls were at Felicity's desk.

"You know I hate that nickname." Thea grumbled as she stood up to meet Oliver and threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

"All the more reason to keep using it." Oliver smirked, returning the hug. "Sorry I was on the phone when you got here. You weren't waiting long were you?"

"Nope." Thea answered, popping the 'p'. "I was just keeping Felicity company."

"You weren't hassling her were you?" Oliver suddenly asked, slightly glaring at his sister.

"No Ollie." Thea rolled her eyes at his (completely unnecessary) protective tone. "We were chatting."

"Since when do you chat?" Oliver questioned.

"Since _someone_ (Thea emphasised with a poke to his chest) left me to run a club when they suddenly decided to go to Europe for 5 months. I had to become a people person."

"You're probably doing a better job than this one." Felicity commented, throwing her hand up in the direction of Oliver's voice. Oliver turned at her voice, noticing that she was bent over in her chair with her head buried in the bottom drawer.

"Felicity, what are you doing?" Oliver's brow was furrowed in confusion as Felicity proceeded to dig through the drawer, pulling out random objects and placing them on the floor beside her. Like the bright yellow high heel that she had just tugged out of the drawer.

"Looking for something." Felicity quickly answered as she was busy with her task.

Oliver looked to Thea for an explanation.

"Felicity swears that she brought a sandwich for lunch but now she can't find it." Thea told him. "I suggested that she look in those drawers."

"Felicity, leave it. We're going to Big Belly Burger for lunch. Come with us." Oliver invited. Thea nodded in agreement.

"Oh no I couldn't. I wouldn't want to impose on your sibling bonding time." Felicity shook her head as she sat upright in her chair and faced the siblings.

"Don't be silly. Ollie and I live together, we see each other way too much in my opinion." Thea dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"Hey." Oliver protested, but Thea knew that he didn't really care about her minor insult.

"It's really fine." Felicity declined. "I'll just grab something from the café downstairs."

"Are you kidding me? It's probably roach infested." Thea argued.

"Okay, probably not." Thea admitted when she saw the doubtful looks on the faces of both Felicity and Oliver. "But no one says no to a Queen. Especially not me." Thea didn't wait for a response as she left for the elevator, confident that they would follow.

"You heard the lady." Oliver motioned for Felicity to get up and join them.

"Fine, let's go." Felicity sighed as she grabbed her coat from the back of her chair.

* * *

The three settled into a booth in the back corner of the restaurant and immediately placed their order with the waitress that had appeared as soon as they sat. Neither of them had to even look at a menu as they were regulars at the fast food joint and were therefore very familiar with what was offered

Though Thea had to admit that she was surprised to hear Felicity just order a salad from the famous burger place, but not as surprised as when she heard Oliver order a burger with no tomato.

"I though you liked tomato." Thea asked her brother who sat opposite her, next to Felicity who was in the corner.

"I do. But Felicity doesn't." Oliver shrugged as he made himself comfortable against the leather, leaning an arm casually behind Felicity's head.

"So?" Thea was confused.

"So as soon as the food comes out, Felicity is going to realise that she shouldn't order a salad from a burger place, and without even touching said salad is going to steal half of my burger. Which I get without tomato so the juice doesn't run through into her half of the burger."

Thea was surprised that her brother could be so thoughtful to anyone, let alone his assistant. But sure enough, when the food was placed on the table in front of them, it all played out exactly like he said it would. Felicity gave one look to the salad before pushing it to the side without eating any of it and proceeded to take half of Oliver's burger off his plate.

Thea couldn't help the little giggle that came out.

"Huh." she expressed as she watched the Oliver and Felicity act so comfortably around one another. Thea watched while Felicity stole a fry from Oliver's plate and he reached over for her milkshake to take a sip.

"What?" both Felicity and Oliver said simultaneously, neither pausing in their actions.

"Just wondering when she's going to meet mum." Thea shrugged as she sat back and sipped her own drink.

"I've met Moira." Felicity dismissed, continuing her (well technically Oliver's) lunch.

"I know. But when are you going to meet her as his _girlfriend_?" Thea asked casually, a small smirk on her face as she watched their reactions.

Oliver threw his little sister a confused look and Felicity slightly choked on the bite she had just taken as it went down the wrong pipe. Oliver lightly patted Felicity on the back to help her breathe.

"We're not together."

"We're just friends."

Oliver and Felicity denied at the same time.

"Uh huh. Tell me the truth." Thea crossed her arms, waiting for them to spill.

"We are telling you the truth Thea." Felicity insisted.

"This," Thea pointed between the two of them as they sat in the booth connected from shoulder to knee and sharing each other's lunch. "Is not normal."

"In case you hadn't noticed, he's not quite normal." Felicity pointed her thumb at Oliver.

"Hey, what is this? Pick on Oliver day?" he pouted.

"Aww, poor baby. Want me to kiss it better?" Felicity joked.

"Right, you two aren't dating." Thea mumbled in disbelief.

"We're not."

"Thea."

Felicity denied and Oliver growled, again at the same time.

"Fine, keep your secrets."


	11. What's the news?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dig has a proposition for Felicity, but Oliver is not happy

"Hey."

Felicity threw a small wave at Diggle as she stepped off the stairs into the lair and made her way over to her usual seat. Diggle paused in his punching of the bag just long enough to return the gesture before returning to his workout.

Oliver was currently out getting them some dinner (Felicity knew this because he had just sent a text asking her what she wanted) but Diggle had continued training since he figured there would be more sparring when Oliver returned.

Felicity fired up her babies so she could check on the searches that she had started last night, listening to the faint grunts and solid hits from Diggle while she waited. Felicity blinked, but her eyes did not reopen.

"Anything on Mr Garfield?" Diggle asked, not realising that Felicity was now asleep.

"Felicity?" He questioned when he didn't receive an answer. Turning to face his friend, he saw why.

"Felicity." Diggle called out in a sing-song voice, expecting her to quickly jolt awake. That didn't happen.

"Felicity." He called a bit louder and sharper, now walking towards her. Still, she remained asleep.

"Felicity!" Felicity's eyes snapped open at the sound of her name, and she saw that Diggle was now standing directly in front of her with his hands on her shoulders.

"You fell asleep. What's going on?" Diggle asked, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "Have you been having nightmares since the Tockman thing?"

"No." Felicity quickly denied, swatting his hands away. Diggle looked unconvinced, crossing his huge arms in front of him as he looked down at her.

"Seriously, it's nothing as nefarious as that. My neighbours decided that their house needed updating so they're renovating. Which means some very early mornings since renovations tend to make a lot of noise." Felicity admitted.

"Felicity, stay with me." Diggle invited.

"It's fine." Felicity waved away his offer, but the movement was broken when she had to cover her mouth as a huge yawn escaped her. Diggle raised one eyebrow at the obvious sign that she was tired.

"Ok, maybe I'll get a hotel room tonight." Felicity reluctantly conceded.

"That's ridiculous." Diggle argued. "You can stay at mine. You're not paying money just to sleep."

"Dig, that's really nice but I don't want to be any trouble." Felicity shook her head.

"You'd be causing me more trouble if I wasn't 100% sure that you were safe."

"I'll sleep here then, if you're worried about my safety. That looks pretty comfortable." She points at Oliver's makeshift bed in the corner.

"No it doesn't." Diggle was quick to counter.

"Oliver sleeps here, it can't be that bad." Felicity shrugged.

"Felicity, Oliver also lived on an island for 5 years. I'm pretty sure he can sleep on a rock."

"Huh, you're right." Felicity agreed. "Fine, if you're sure it's not a problem."

"Of course." Dig placed a friendly kiss on the top of Felicity's head before returning to the punching bag. Felicity smiled as she thought about the nice deep sleep she was going to be able to get that night.

Minutes later, Oliver came bounding down the stairs. With no Arrow work lately, the team had been enjoying some quiet down time and it showed in Oliver's unusually good mood.

"What's the news?" Oliver asked as he placed the take out bags on one of the metal tables they used when they had dinner in the Foundry.

"Nothing yet." Felicity answered him, assuming he is asking for information on their latest target.

"Felicity's moving in with me." Diggle answered easily, not missing the frown that suddenly appeared on Oliver's face.

"What?" Oliver demanded, his tone going deep like the one he used as the Arrow.

"It's only for one night." Felicity clarified. Diggle stifled a laugh as Oliver's frown deepened.

"You're really staying with him?" Oliver said incredulously, turning to Felicity.

"Yeah." Felicity shrugged as she jumped onto the table and opened a nearby container.

"No Felicity. You're staying with me." Oliver said, like the matter was not up for discussion. Felicity paused with a forkful of noodles halfway to her open mouth.

"What?"

"You heard me. You're coming home with me. If you need somewhere to stay, you can stay at the mansion." Oliver reasoned.

"I don't think so." Felicity shook her head. "Just imagine how that would look?"

"I don't care how it would look. You're staying with me." Oliver insisted.

"Oliver, it's fine. Dig and I already decided I could stay with him."

"Well it's not fine with me. You'd be safer at the mansion."

"With you." Diggle covered with a cough, but Oliver heard the comment.

"With the additional security we have." He glared at his friend.

"What is with you two?" Felicity groaned as she looked between the men around her. "I've been safe enough at my own place all this time. And besides, it's not about safety. I just need to get some sleep."

"All the more reason you should stay with me and not Dig." Oliver nodded at the logic. "You never know when Lyla will show up."

"Hey."

"Eww."

Felicity sighed as she looked at Oliver's determined face.

"Fine, but just one night." Felicity held up a finger to emphasise her point. "I'm not giving the tabloids any more fuel for their fire."

Oliver grinned in satisfaction as he started in on his own dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to get annoyed with Dig having three names...


	12. That doesn't make any sense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity has a plan for Team Arrow

It was just another Friday night for Team Arrow and everyone was in their usual positions within the foundry. Oliver was in the middle of his typical workout routine and was at the moment hanging from the top of the salmon ladder doing some crunches. Dig was checking the inventory of their well-used first aid kit as it was currently running low on all of the supplies that they tended to use every night. And Felicity was typing away on one of her keyboards, continually sliding her chair across the concrete floor so she could monitor all of the different information on all three screens.

It was relatively quiet in the foundry that night, as each person went about doing their own thing. Though there were the usual sounds of each person's activities, the group of friends were just comfortable being in each other's presence so there was no need for conversation. The silence was broken however when a loud noise came from one of Felicity's computers.

"Aha. Gotcha." Felicity did a little fist pump before jotting down something on the notepad that she always made sure she had on her desk.

As she had previously told the team, she never knew when a thought was going to come to her so she always had to have something nearby that she could write on. One time she had even written on Oliver's arm when inspiration struck while they were out to lunch, since she couldn't find anything else to write on (though there was a napkin RIGHT THERE, as Oliver had pointed out after his arm was covered in her scrawl).

Oliver paused in his exercise and Dig turned to the blonde expectantly, both waiting for her to share with them the information that she had just found. When none was forthcoming, Oliver went with the direct approach. Asking her.

"Felicity." Oliver yelled, catching her attention. "What is it?"

"Oh right. Well, it looks like Mr Parker will finally be in one spot for long enough tomorrow night that we can use him." She nodded, looking mighty pleased with herself.

The team had been trying to track down high profile lawyer Andrew Parker for a few weeks now, hoping he would lead them to someone. He was the legal representation for low life Brian Wozniak, a new player in town who was involved in the supply and distribution of Manic, a new drug that had been making its way through the Glades. Problem was Parker was a busy man, so he tended to move from one place to the other which didn't give the Arrow a chance to pin him down and get any information on Wozniak.

"Where?" Oliver asked, jumping down from the ladder and approaching Felicity. He leaned over her so he could also read the screen, resting one hand on her bare shoulder and the other on the desk.

"The Museum of Modern Art." Felicity pointed to a building on the map of the city that she had pulled up. "The Goodman's are throwing a benefit there tomorrow night, all in the name of some charity I suppose. Which really just means another chance for the one percenters to get together so they can drink and gossip." Felicity smirked as she threw a wink at Dig across the room. He grinned back at her, clearly agreeing with her observation.

"Hey." Oliver objected at the slight insult.

"Oh sorry one percenter. Forgot you were there." Felicity smirked as she stuck out her tongue at Oliver, before resuming her scroll through the screen for more information.

"The event starts at 7." Felicity informed them, also jotting down that detail on her piece of paper.

"I know." Oliver commented with a shrug as he turned around and leant against Felicity's desk.

"Of course you do." Felicity rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore the feeling of loss she had now that he was no longer touching her.

"What?" Oliver shrugged. "Regardless of what's happened, Queen is still a big name around here. Someone in the family is always invited to these things, and this time it was my turn. But I won't be going. We've known about that gun exchange over on the other side of town for months, I need to go stop that."

"Doesn't matter. There's not much that you can do with Parker right now anyway. First, we need to get his phone and download some info from it. Basically we're looking for any contact he's had with Wozniak so we can track that guy down." Felicity explained. She spun her chair so that she was could face Oliver next to her. "I can do it."

"No." Oliver immediately disagreed.

"Why not?" Felicity sighed, expecting the typical "it's not safe" response.

"It's too dangerous." Oliver told her. Like she thought, typical. "Dig can do it." he continued.

"That doesn't make any sense." Felicity groaned, holding up her hand to stop Dig from saying anything. Like a good soldier, he immediately snapped his mouth shut.

"Oliver we'll need to physically take the phone away from Parker so we can do the download." Felicity pointed out. At Oliver's blank look she explained further. "Which means that he'll need to be kept occupied. And that's where I come in. I can engage him in conversation, probably flirt with him a little. Without something to distract him, he's going to notice if his phone is gone. It's like another limb to most people. They need to be with it at all times."

"Felicity, you're not going in there." Oliver told her, assuming the Arrow voice which usually meant the end of a conversation.

"What do you think Parker is going to do Oliver? There will be a room full of people!" Felicity argued, not at all intimidated by Oliver's tone.

"Doesn't matter. I'm- _we're_ not risking it. Dig can distract him just fine."

"How?" Felicity threw her arms up, exasperated at Oliver's stubbornness. "Dig's arms may be the size of tree trunks, but I doubt he's hiding this or this, underneath that." she demonstrated her point by pushing up her cleavage and stretching out her toned smooth legs, before motioning to Dig.

Oliver turned away with a gulp, shaking his head to try and rid the image Felicity had just planted in his brain.

"What makes you think that's even going to work?" Oliver half-heartedly challenged.

"Have you met Felicity?" Dig mumbled, though the acoustics of the basement meant that Oliver and Felicity heard him.

"Thanks Dig." Felicity grinned at the compliment. "Oliver, you should see me when I'm in flirting mode. Not that you would have any reason to be on the receiving end of my flirting, or even _want_ to be." She corrected, noticing the strange look on Oliver's face.

"Not the point." Felicity waved away her ramble. "I can _do_ this Oliver."

Oliver breathed out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't want to agree to putting Felicity in the field, but he also didn't want to get into an argument with his blonde partner.

"Fine. But Dig goes too." Oliver compromised, pointing at the older man across the room.

"Will do boss." Felicity smiled, spinning back around in her chair to face her computers.

"Fine by me." Dig shrugged, turning back to the medical supplies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it. Another 6 - hope you're still with me and enjoying :)
> 
> As always head over to fanfiction.net if you'd like to follow this story, otherwise I will be back once I get to 18


	13. We make a good team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity goes out on a mission with Detective Lance. What will the Arrow have to say about that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure this is my favourite :)

It had been a quiet few days for Team Arrow, so Oliver had given everyone the night off. But of course, that didn’t relate to him and he had gone out patrolling.

There was no action on the street so Oliver decided to head back to the Foundry early. While there was no chance that he was going to get some sleep, since he hadn’t exactly been sleeping much since returning from the island - both the first  _and_ second time, he could use the early night to get in a workout. Maybe if he pushed his body to the point of exhaustion, sleep would just come.

On the way back, Oliver found himself going past Felicity’s place. Though he had basically forced her to go home, he missed her. He missed her smile and her laugh, and to be honest her rambling ways. So he quickly decided to take a pause in his route back and check in on her.

As he was in his Arrow gear, he couldn’t very well walk up to her front door and ring the bell like a normal person. So he made the decision to go in through her bedroom window, which was conveniently located at the back of the townhouse.

Silently, Oliver climbed through the window, throwing his bow in first so he could use both hands to boost himself onto the ledge before rolling in. Not surprisingly, Felicity wasn’t in her bedroom. But there was also no noise coming from the rest of the house which he had expected. Her parting words as she had left the lair that night was something about doctors and mysteries. So he had assumed she was planning on watching some TV which she was always complaining she was missing because of him.

“Felicity?” he called out, just in case she was nearby and he hadn’t heard her.

When there was no answer, Oliver frowned and stepped out of the bedroom with his bow in hand. He stuck to the shadows as he searched the small space, making sure there were no unwanted guests. Satisfied that the house was silent and nothing was out of place, Oliver returned to the bedroom. Maybe she was back at the Foundry.

As Oliver made his way around Felicity’s bed so he could go back out the window, he noticed her tablet open on her bed. That was strange. Felicity never left home without the tablet.

On closer inspection, Oliver noticed that the tablet was opened to an application and there was an address input at the top, with a pinpoint of where that location was on the map. Oliver frowned as he noticed that it was in a questionable part of the Glades. There was also a note next to the screen with a message in Felicity’s handwriting.

‘ _Detective Lance. 7.45pm_.’

Oliver checked his watch. It was only just after 8.20 now so she was probably still there, doing whatever task Lance had set for her. While Oliver didn’t mind his IT girl using her special skills to help others, she was _his_ IT girl. So if someone needed her assistance they had to go through him. Plus, she had to be safe – a role only _he_ thought he could play.

And so Oliver jumped out the window, planning on telling the Detective that very thing. 

* * *

“Just a few more minutes.” Felicity told Detective Lance where he stood behind her sitting form as she worked on the laptop. “Remind me again why you needed _me_ to do this? Surely you have people that, you know aren’t usually involved in illegal activities, who can do things like this?”

“We do.” Lance confirmed. “But unfortunately our usual tech guy is out of town at the moment. Visiting his parents.”

“Sure. But then why are we _here_ and not at the police station downloading from this computer?” Felicity questioned. “Not that I’m complaining. I’ve been in worst places.”

Felicity shrugged like the fact that she had been in sketchy areas before was nothing, but Detective Lance felt differently. She was probably about the same age as one of his daughters, hell sometimes he _felt_ like she was one of his daughters. So her being in places like this did not sit well with him. Lance shook his head, trying to dispel the comparison.

“Uh, there was a bit of a hiccup with the delivery of the warrant.” he explained to her. “So we had to do this _in situ_.”

“Ok, done.” Felicity announced as she hit one last key and pulled out the flash drive. “We make a good team.”

She smiled at him as she handed the flash drive over. Lance pocketed the gun that he had been aiming at the door in case there were any surprises. Luckily he hadn’t needed to use it.

“Thanks. Let’s go.” the Detective inclined his head towards the door and with a hand at her lower back, ushering Felicity through it. They exited the building into a narrow alleyway that led onto the main street.

“So, how exactly does Queen feel about all this?” Lance asks her as they made their way back to his car parked a few blocks over.

“Oliver?” Felicity clarified. “I wouldn’t know. Oliver isn’t exactly the poster boy for sharing his feelings.”

“True. But you work with the guy every day. You’re practically glued to his side and if the rumours are to be believed, you’re more than just his assistant.” Lance commented. “Not that I believe the rumours sweetheart.” He held up his hands defensively when Felicity stopped and turned to him with a glare.

“It doesn’t really matter what he thinks.” Felicity shrugged, continuing to walk to the car.

“So you haven’t told him?”

“He knows.” Felicity answered simply. Lance changed the subject as he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

“And our mutual friend. Does he know you helped me out tonight?”

“Not really.” Felicity confessed.

“Well he does now.” Lance pointed to a shadowy figure on a rooftop of a nearby building.

“Great.” Felicity muttered under her breath, just as a rappelling arrow lodged itself into the wall behind Lance’s shoulder.

Very quickly, Felicity found herself face to face with the Arrow as he swung down the rope to land in front of the two. Though the hood was strategically in place to cover the top half of the Oliver’s face, Felicity was very familiar with his jaw and she could see it was clenched very hard in annoyance.

“Felicity. Let’s go.” The Arrow demanded in the synthetic voice which she hated, holding out his arm for her to go first.

“Well hello to you too.” Lance interjected.

“Detective.” Oliver nodded in greeting, but didn’t look away from Felicity. “Now.” He ordered her. Wrong move. Felicity stubbornly crossed her arms and planted her feet, not intending to go anywhere.

“I came with Detective Lance. I’m leaving with Detective Lance.”

“Fe-li-ci-ty.” Oliver sighed in exasperation, but with the modulator on it didn’t sound quite right.

“It’s fine. I’ll make sure she gets home.” Lance stepped in. The Arrow turned to the Detective, and Felicity just knew he was glaring.

“Like you made sure she got here? She shouldn’t be here!” Oliver yelled.

“Why not?” Felicity demanded, not appreciating his over protectiveness right now.

“You could have been in danger.” Oliver told her in a softer tone. “How could you put her in danger?” he demanded of the Detective.

“Oh right, because she’s never been in danger doing something for you. How is this any different to when you’ve done it huh?”

“She volunteered.” The Arrow rationalised.

“Did she volunteer to almost be knocked unconscious, or to be threatened with needles full of Vertigo, or to get shot?”

“Hey, that one was all her.” The Arrow pointed at the blonde.

“And I’d do it again.” Felicity huffed, but the two men ignored her.

“What about what you had her doing last year? I bet she didn’t realise what she was getting herself into then.”

“Excuse me?” Oliver growled out, and Felicity could understand why people were afraid to be confronted by the vigilante.

“Bomb collars, guns to her head, almost getting caught at Merlyn Global.” Lance noticed the vigilante stiffen. “Oh didn’t realise I knew about all that?”

The Arrow stepped forward, finger raised. Felicity quickly stepped between the two, ending their testosterone filled battle.

“Ol-Arrow.” Felicity quickly corrected herself, placing one hand on Oliver’s chest to halt his movements.

“Seriously I’m fine. Not a scratch on me. I was never in any danger.”

“No offense Miss Smoak. But you seem to attract trouble. Case in point.” Lance indicated the vigilante.

“Not helping.” Felicity threw over her shoulder, frowning at the Detective.

“Let’s just go.” Felicity pushed against Oliver, indicating they should leave. Oliver nodded and grabbed onto Felicity’s waist, pointing another rappelling arrow at the rooftop he came down from.

“You sure you want to do that sweetheart?” Lance asked, unsure if he’s okay with Felicity swinging around with the Arrow.

“It’s our thing.” Felicity shrugged, holding onto Oliver tight as they shoot up towards the roof.

When they landed on the roof, Felicity disentangled herself from Oliver and turned to face him.

“Oliver, I wanted to help. It’s-”

“Your life. Your choice.” Oliver finished, knowing the reasoning well. “Yeah I got it. Come on.” He led the way to the stairs so they could get out of the building and to where he left his bike on the street.

“Are you kidding me? Why did we have to swing onto the roof in the first place?!”


	14. I know what I saw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will a compromising position, plus a lecture from wise Diggle, make Oliver see the truth?

“Ugh.” Felicity groaned as she leaned back in the high backed chair that had been deemed ‘hers’ since she had stepped foot in the lair all those years ago.

Oliver paused in his progress up the salmon ladder and looked down at his weary blonde IT girl. He watched as she took off her glasses and rubbed her closed eyes.

“Felicity, it’s late. Go home and go to bed.”

“No, no.” Felicity shook her head. “It’s fine. I mean, I need to rest but not as in sleep. I just need a break from staring at these computers.”

Oliver dropped to the ground and walked over to the training mats, stopping to grab his grey t-shirt that was lying on the nearby table.

“Come here then.” Oliver waved her over. “Might as well teach you something since you’re taking a break anyway.”

Felicity stared at him over the top of one of the many computer screens that lined the table.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Oliver Queen?”

“What do you mean?” Oliver queried.

“Usually you leave my training up to Dig. Even Sara helped out sometimes. But never you.”

“Yeah well Dig isn’t here right now, and Sara is god knows where with the League. Given your insistence on going out in the field, I think we should take every opportunity we can to make sure you know what you’re doing out there.”

“I’m not exactly dressed for a duel.” Felicity indicated her attire of tight skinny jeans and a fitted tank top.

“Not a problem.” Oliver insisted, waving her over again. “This isn’t about you learning how to fight. You just need to learn how to get free if someone gets a hold of you. I _never_ want you fighting. You get free and run away as fast as you can.”

“Yes Dad.” Felicity grumbled, as she made her way over to where Oliver stood. Oliver pointed a warning finger at her remark.

“None of that. Let’s go.”

Felicity stopped in front of Oliver. She had taken her heels off earlier so she only just came up to his shoulder as they stood toe to toe.

“It’s unlikely that someone is going to come at you from the front.” Oliver twirled his hand, indicating that Felicity should turn around so that she had her back to him.

“Ok, I’m not going to tell you what I’m doing. Just react.”

Felicity nodded and waited for Oliver to make a move. She could feel him behind her as he radiated warmth, presumably since he had just been exercising.

She barely heard him move and suddenly she was pulled into his solid chest by the arm he had wrapped around her neck, while his other arm came around her middle pinning her arms against her sides.

Though Felicity knew that Oliver would never hurt her, she still panicked at being in such a vulnerable position. And because she was panicking, she just froze. Oliver felt her tense up and sighed.

“Felicity, that’s not helping.” He sighed as he dropped his arms.

“Sorry, sorry.” Felicity apologised. “Let’s go again.”

Again, Oliver pulled Felicity backwards and stopped her being able to use her arms against him. But this time Felicity didn’t freeze, instead pulling on her previous training with Dig.

Using the parts of her body that she _could_ move, Felicity stepped down hard on Oliver’s toe while throwing her body back into his. The shock of her movement caused Oliver to loosen his hold on her enough that Felicity could move in his arms.

She turned herself so that she was now facing him and pushed her head forward. With the height difference, the result was that she managed to knock into Oliver’s collarbone, throwing him off balance.

Felicity used his momentum against him and with a sweep of her feet, managed to get him onto the floor. Squealing in triumph, Felicity plopped down onto Oliver’s stomach keeping him down.

“What happened to running away?” Oliver smirked as he placed his hands on Felicity’s thighs that were straddling his waist.

“I liked this idea better.” Felicity shrugged, but then turned bright red when she realised what that sounded like. “I mean the gloating over my victory part, not the straddling you part.”

Oliver chuckled. “I know what you meant.”

“So that was good. Smart. But what was your plan once you had them on the floor?” Oliver unconsciously ran his hands up and down her jean clad thighs.

“Uh, I didn’t really get that far.” Felicity admitted. “But running away sounds good.”

“What if they do this?” And in one swift movement, Oliver had reversed their positions so now it was Felicity lying on the mats with Oliver holding her down. Only difference being, her legs were not flat on the mat the way Oliver’s had been.

When he had flipped them, Felicity had been surprised by the movement so had clamped her thighs around Oliver’s and that’s where they remained.

“No running away now.” Oliver pointed out, his voice dropping to a gentler tone. Felicity nodded, but she was suddenly not thinking about the training anymore.

“Wasn’t planning to.” She whispered, staring into his eyes that had suddenly gotten darker.

Oliver searched Felicity’s face, but for what he didn’t know. He slid the hand that he had put at the back of her head to ensure she didn’t hit it on the floor when he had flipped them, further down so that he was softly cradling her neck, leaving his other hand at the top of her thigh as he held it to him.

Oliver dropped his head closer to Felicity’s and her eyes instinctively closed, waiting for the contact.

“Hey Oliver, can you –” Felicity’s eyes snapped open and Oliver lifted his head quickly as they heard Roy’s voice at the top of the stairs. Problem was, they were still tangled together on the mats so Roy had a clear view from the stairs of the position his two team members were in.

“Uh –” Roy was at a loss for words.

“It’s not what it looks like!” both Felicity and Oliver insisted as Oliver jumped up and offered a hand to Felicity so he could pull her up from the floor.

“Right. I’m just gonna go.” Roy said slowly as he started backing away and leaving out the door he had just come through. 

* * *

“Dig, you owe me 5 bucks.” Roy mentioned as the three boys hung around the lair going about their own thing. Oliver had told Felicity she could stay home that night so it was just the three of them there, keeping an eye on the police scanner in the event there was any trouble.

Dig looked up from his place at the table where he was cleaning his gun, throwing a confused look at the young teen.

“What for?”

“Felicity and Oliver are together.” Roy shrugged casually, not even looking up from sharpening the arrow heads.

“No. We’re not.” Oliver corrected, turning to face Dig after successfully landing three arrows into the tennis balls he had thrown at the wall.

“I know what I saw.” Roy pointed out.

“Saw when?” Dig asked the two other people in the room.

“It was nothing.” Oliver interrupted whatever Roy was about to say.

“Whatever man. Keep it a secret, I don’t care.” Roy muttered, going back to his task.

“What’s he talking about?” Dig asked again, wanting answers this time.

“Nothing.” Oliver shook his head, turning back to his practice wall. Dig sighed. Great, Oliver was in ‘stubborn mode’. It was going to be a long night.

“Do us a favour and go get us some burgers and fries from Big Belly Burger.” Dig told the kid, pushing $20 into his chest as he passed by Roy and walked over to where Oliver was. Roy nodded and grabbed his trademark red hoodie from the chair before hurrying out the door.

“Oliver,” Dig started, leaning against a nearby table.

“I don’t want to hear it.” Oliver growled, squaring his shoulder.

“Too bad. What are you doing man?” Dig pushed.

“I don’t know, ok?” Oliver cried, slamming his bow down on the table that Dig was leaning against.

“Well, what did the kid walk in on the other day?”

“It’s complicated.” Oliver sighed, running his hand through his hair. “One minute I was showing Felicity how to defend herself, and the next we were on the floor but then Roy walked in.”

“And if he hadn’t?” Dig asked, though he already suspected what the answer was going to be. Oliver just threw him a look, confirming what Dig thought.

“Would that really be a bad thing?”

“Yes.” Oliver immediately answered Dig’s question. “I’d be putting a target on her back. She’d be in danger because of me. Dig, because of the life I lead -”

“Yeah, yeah you can’t be with someone you really care about. I know. Felicity told me what you said to her after Russia.” Dig swiped a hand down his face in exasperation at his idiotic friend.

“Oliver,” Dig sighed. “Don’t you see that it’s the life she leads too? Hell, we _all_ are. We’re in this together.”

“I know that.” Oliver agreed sharply, then waved a hand around the basement. “But she’s down here. Safe. Not out there for everyone to see and hurt.”

“Man, I hate to tell you but Felicity isn’t as safe as you like to think she is. Just this year alone how much crap has that girl had to put up with? And it’s no longer just Lance that knows she’s working with the Arrow.”

“Well I don't want to add to that list.” Oliver justified. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“Oliver, it’s already happening to her.” Dig pointed out. “Wouldn’t it make more sense that you were there to _protect_ her, instead of trying to _prevent_ something that’s going to happen anyway?”

“I’ll always be there.” Oliver scoffed at the idea that he wouldn’t be.

“But is it in the way she wants?”

* * *

Felicity was very grateful that Oliver had given her the night off from Arrow work. She had managed to watch a few shows and was now snuggled up in bed reading a chapter of the latest novel that she had picked up. A year ago. And she was only at page 12.

With a sigh, Felicity realised that while she missed her old calm life, she wouldn’t give up this whirlwind that her new life had become for anything. Sure she found herself longing for the latest episode of Game of Thrones but she also enjoyed the thrill of facial recognition programs and hacking into federal databases.

And it didn’t hurt that she felt like she was stepping into a GQ fashion shoot every time she went in to do her second job.

Felicity smiled at the thought as she tried to focus on the page of her book. After reading a couple of lines, she heard her doorbell ringing. Glancing at her phone beside her, she saw that it was nearing 11pm. That meant it could really only be one of a handful of people.

As Felicity moved out of bed, the doorbell rang again followed quickly by a series of knocks.

“I’m coming.” Felicity yelled out, hoping that whoever it was would be patient and just wait for her to answer the door. No such luck, there was more insistent pounding as she reached the door.

Peeking briefly through the peephole, only to confirm what she already knew, Felicity opened the door to an agitated Oliver on the other side.

“Oliver. What’s wrong?” Felicity urgently asked him, but he said nothing as he stepped inside and shut the door behind him, coming to stand very close in front of Felicity. This meant that Felicity had to crane her neck back so she could look up at him.

“Oliver, wha-” Felicity started to say but she was silenced as his mouth crashed down on hers.

Felicity froze at the new, but definitely not unwanted, sensation. But Oliver just kept his mouth sealed to hers, waiting for her to respond in kind. And respond she did, pushing back slightly to increase the pressure.

Felicity felt Oliver smile before his tongue peeked out to swipe across her bottom lip, seeking permission. Eagerly she granted it and the two explored the taste and feel of one another.

Oliver’s hands which had started at Felicity’s elbows were now eagerly working their way across her waist and down to her hips, pulling her towards him until barely a breath could come between them. This caused Felicity’s hands, which had settled on Oliver’s chest, to snake up and around the back of his neck.

Soon, breathing became a necessity so Oliver reluctantly took his mouth away from hers. Only to return it to her soft neck so he could pepper kisses down her shoulder. Felicity gave a slight moan when Oliver reached a particularly sensitive spot which he then proceeded to pay specific attention to.

As Felicity’s moans gave way to soft whimpers, she felt like her legs were not going to hold her up much longer if he kept doing – well that thing that he was _really_ good at.

“Really good huh?” Oliver smirked, lifting his head from the juncture at Felicity’s shoulder.

“Bedroom.” Was all Felicity said and used her head to point the way. Nodding, a grinning Oliver walked Felicity backwards in that direction, still kissing her as they maneuvered through the small apartment.

Felicity shrieked in delight as Oliver threw her onto her bed and kicked the door shut behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after all this time I thought I should throw some real Olicity in there... *runs and hides*


	15. You're cut off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity opens her home to the newly homeless and jobless Oliver

The car was silent as Dig drove Felicity and Oliver away from the airstrip they had just landed at after returning from Lian Yu.

Dig kept his eyes on the road as he sat casually in the driver’s seat, with Felicity and Oliver seated in the back of the car. Oliver shifted more comfortably in the leather seat, glancing at Felicity out of the corner of his eye while she typed something on her tablet. He couldn’t really remember a time when she didn’t have that thing in her hands.

“So where to boss?” Dig called from the front, driving them back towards the city.

“I actually don’t know.” Oliver responded honestly, rubbing a hand down his tired face.

“That doesn’t surprise me.” Dig shrugged. “But I wasn’t talking to you.”

“We all know who the real boss around here is.” Felicity commented with a grin, not even looking up from her tablet. “Just take us home, Dig.”

“In case you forgot Felicity, I don’t exactly have a home to go to.” Oliver pointed out, resting a hand on Felicity’s arm to get her attention.

“I remember.” Felicity turned to him with a sad smile. “That’s why you’re coming home with me.”

“I couldn’t do that. I don’t want to intrude.” Oliver protested.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Felicity shooed away his concern. “You’re not intruding. I’m _inviting_ you into my home.”

“Felicity, I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Oliver whispered to her, mindful that Dig was not two feet away and didn’t know about all of the events of the night they took down Slade Wilson.

“Oliver, that’s ancient history.” Felicity waved her hand back indicating that it was in the past. “We’re not going to survive as a team if we dwell on it. So don’t.”

Oliver sighed as he sat back in his seat. Felicity leaned over and wiped away the crease that appeared between his eyebrows whenever he frowned. Which was a lot.

“Oliver you need a place to stay. In case _you_ forgot, you’re cut off. No home, no club, no job. It’s just until you get back on your feet.”

“Ok, thank you.” Oliver smiled and took Felicity’s hand that was still on his forehead. With a quick kiss on her knuckles, he placed their joined hands on the seat between them.

“So to Felicity’s then?” Dig smirked, taking the turn that would get them there.

* * *

Dig dropped the two of them off at the front with a quick goodbye, saying something about having to get back to Lyla.

Felicity unlocked the front door, and dropping the keys into a dish on her kitchen counter, proceeded to flop face first onto the couch in exhaustion. Oliver chuckled softly as he followed her, sitting on the end of the couch and pulling her head into his lap.

“Tired?” He asked, running his hand through her blonde ponytail that was starting to come loose.

“Understatement of the century.” Felicity groaned, letting her eyes fall shut briefly, before snapping them open and sitting up.

“But I have a guest, so I’m going to push that aside and get you set up." Felicity announced

“Felicity, it’s fine. I can get myself set up. Just show me the way to the second bedroom.”

“It’s that way.” Felicity pointed down the hall, but then brought her hand to her face. “Oh, I forgot! There's still a bunch of moving boxes filled with my stuff in there from when you and Dig forced me to move out of my very nice and very _safe_ apartment a few months ago.”

“It wasn’t safe. I managed to let myself in a number of times.”

“You mean you forced your way in.” Felicity rolled her eyes. “And I doubt most criminals can manage to scale a six story building and then break their way into a locked and barred window.”

“They could if they wanted to.” Oliver claimed.

Felicity raised her hands. “I’m not having this argument again, Mr Over-Protective. Point is, the spare room is currently unusable.”

“No problem. I can sleep on the couch.”

“Oliver, _I_ barely fit on this couch. There is no way _you_ are going to be able to sleep on it.”

“Felicity, I’ve slept on worse. Stranded on an island for five years, remember.” Oliver pointed to himself.

“True. But after the week you’ve had, I think you need to sleep in a real bed.”

“You just told me that the bed in the spare room was a no-go.”

“Oliver, that’s not the only bed in this place.” Felicity pointed out.

“Uh…” Oliver nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “We probably shouldn’t.”

“Oh, please.” Felicity groaned. “I’m not going to jump you in the middle of the night. The bed is big enough, you probably won’t even realise I’m there.”

Oliver really doubted that that would be the case. He didn't think there would ever come a time when he wasn't conscious of the fact that Felicity was around.

“I can sleep on the couch.” He tried again.

“Oliver, honestly it’s fine. Just don’t hog the sheets.” Felicity mumbled, lying back down with her head in Oliver’s lap.

“Come on. Let’s get you to bed then.” Oliver sighed defeated, picking up a sleepy Felicity and heading towards her bedroom.

* * *

The next morning Oliver woke to find a head of blonde hair on his bare chest and a small hand resting just above the waistband of his sweatpants. Sweatpants that Felicity had luckily had lying around since she often took his clothes home to wash after his Arrow work.

Glancing down he saw that Felicity was still fast asleep and making some very cute mewling sounds whenever she breathed out. A grin broke out onto his face when the cute mewling sounds suddenly gave way to a loud snort and she snuggled closer into his side.

Oliver allowed himself to embrace this feeling of contentment he had at the thought of being able to wake up like this every day, with Felicity by his side. But as the image of Slade’s long silver blade to her throat came to the forefront of his mind, Oliver realised that this was not a life that he could have.

And then Felicity’s hand on his stomach drifted lower, getting dangerously close to a point where she would _know_ just how much he was enjoying waking up like this.

“Felicity.” Oliver shook her gently, hoping for her to wake up.

“Mmm?” Felicity mumbled, slowly opening her eyes to see Oliver’s blue ones staring down at her.

“Oliver, hi.” Felicity shyly greeted. She turned to lay on her back so she was no longer touching Oliver, meaning her face was slightly turned from Oliver’s view but he could still see the faint blush that was colouring her cheeks. “How did you sleep?”

“Best I have in a while, actually.” Oliver answered her.

“See, I told you that you needed to sleep in a real bed.”

“Yeah, that was the reason.” Oliver deadpanned, knowing that it was about _who_ he had been sleeping with, not _where_ he had been sleeping that made the difference.

Felicity threw him a bewildered look over her shoulder as she swung her legs out of the bed and went to stand up.

“Ok.” She said slowly. “So I thought today we could get that guest room cleared so that you’ll have somewhere to sleep tonight.”

“I can do it.” Oliver offered. “You should spend today looking for a new job. You shouldn’t put that off.”

“You’re right. This place isn’t going to pay for itself.” Felicity gestured around. “Coffee?”

Oliver nodded and Felicity walked out to go to the kitchen. As Felicity left, Oliver’s phone started ringing and he saw that it was Laurel calling.

“Laurel, hi.” Oliver answered.

“Ollie I need your help.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” Oliver was immediately on alert as he heard the tears in Laurel’s voice.

“After you all left the other night, Dad collapsed. He’s in the hospital.”

“Is he alright?”

“The doctors think so. But he fell into a coma and they have to wait for him to wake up before they can do any tests.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Can you please just come here? I tried calling Sara but I can’t get a hold of her, and who knows where she is anyway.”

“Uh sure.” Oliver hesitated. He had actually been looking forward to spending the day with Felicity.

“Ollie, where are you?” Laurel asked, hearing his hesitation.

“I’m at the club.” Oliver wasn’t sure why he lied. “Just trying to sort out the mess down here.”

“Oliver, do you want breakfast as well?” Felicity called out from the kitchen. Oliver cringed as the sound of her voice travelled to him.

“Good, not far then. So you’ll be here soon?” Laurel asked, no indication if she had heard Felicity or not.

“Of course. See you soon.” Oliver hung up his phone and headed out to Felicity.

“Sorry, rain check?” Oliver held up his phone in explanation.

“Laurel just called. Lance is in the hospital and she wants me to go down there.”

“Oh no, is he alright?” Felicity immediately asked, the worry clear on her face.

“He’s fine. In a coma, but fine.” Oliver assured her.

“You mean sleeping, right?”

“Right.” Oliver smiled. “So I’ll probably be gone most of the day, sorry.”

“I understand. Should I come as well?”

“No need.” Oliver shook his head. “I should go get dressed.”

* * *

It was close to 8 o’clock at night when Oliver walked through the door of Felicity’s townhouse. He slumped onto the couch beside a curled up Felicity as she took another spoonful of mint chip ice cream from the tub.

“Want some?” she offered, as he noticed that she was watching some random home renovation show. Oliver shook his head in the negative.

“Long day?” Felicity asked, turning so that she now faced Oliver.

“Yeah.” Oliver nodded. “Laurel needed someone to talk to, and there was no news. Lance is still in a - sleeping.” Oliver corrected himself, remember Felicity’s preference.

“So what did you get up to today?”

“Quite a bit actually.” Felicity grinned. “I found a few jobs that sounded interesting, and I sent my application and resume off to all of them. Now we just sit back and wait to see if I hear back from anyone.”

“I’m sure you will. You’d be an asset to any organisation Felicity.”

“Oh but I didn’t get around to clearing out that spare room for you.” Felicity realised with a frown.

“Don’t worry.” Oliver waved away her disappointment. “We can do it tomorrow.”

“But you’re not sleeping on the couch.” Felicity demanded, pointing a finger at him.

“Wasn’t planning to.”

* * *

But the spare room didn’t get cleared out the next day either. Dig called and pointed out that if the Arrow was going to help rebuild the city, they needed to get their base of operations up and running sooner rather than later. The team had then spent all that day clearing out the debris that littered the area under Verdant, and moving anything salvageable over to the secondary hideout that Oliver had been keeping from them.

With the legal mess surrounding Queen Consolidated, there was no knowing when the club would be back in Oliver's control so it just made sense to set up somewhere else. So during that week, Felicity and Oliver had been returning home definitely not in the mood to do any more heavy lifting or rearranging. And so the clearing of the spare room had been pushed back to another time.

Then Felicity had received a call from Hunter Industries who were looking for an IT specialist. They wasted no time in getting her in for an interview, which she passed with flying colours, and the following week she was their new employee.

Between getting the new Arrow base operational, and Felicity being at work from 7am to 7pm, there had been no time to move Oliver into the guest room. Which wasn’t an issue as the two had gotten into a routine where Oliver would sleep in Felicity’s bed, with Felicity. And neither really minded that arrangement.

* * *

Oliver woke to Felicity sitting up against the headboard, eyes scanning her tablet and looking upset.

“What is it?” Oliver questioned, sitting up so they were shoulder to shoulder. Felicity didn’t answer and instead turned the tablet around to face him.

“Am I supposed to be seeing something here?” Oliver looked puzzled as he stared at the news article she was showing him.

“Right there.” Felicity pointed to the top of the screen where she knew the headline was. And that’s when Oliver noticed it. The big bold letters that read,

_New Palm to Hold Up Crumbling Empire_

With a picture of a fairly attractive 30-something guy in a suit shaking the hand of the most senior board member of Queen Consolidated.

“What is this?” Oliver was perplexed as he took the tablet and scanned the article.

“Ray Palmer. He’s new in town and looks like he just became the new CEO of Queen Consolidated.” Felicity reluctantly explained. “What happened Oliver?”

“I don’t know.” Oliver ran an exasperated hand down his face. “I guess I was spending too much time trying to get the Arrow back into play that I let the plan to get the company back for Oliver Queen suffer.”

"You know that's creepy right?" Felicity pointed out, referring to the way he referred to himself in third person. Oliver rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue.

“Look, all is not lost. He’s only _just_ taken the position. We still have time to find something on him that will make the board reconsider. I’m sure they don’t like the idea of the company being run by someone whose name isn’t on the side of the building as much as we don’t.”

“You’re right, as usual.” Oliver smiled at her. “Do you think you could find out about this guy? Spend time with him if you have to. Get to know him, maybe he’ll tell you something.”

Felicity nodded, taking back her tablet so she could finish reading the paper.

* * *

Felicity rushed through the door, throwing her purse on the couch beside Oliver who was nursing a beer in front of a dark television. She quickly made her way to her room, already unzipping her work dress as she kicked of her heels.

“I’m so late.” Felicity cried, shutting her bedroom door behind her.

Oliver sat silently on the couch, staring ahead at nothing. Seconds after she had shut the door, Felicity threw it open.

“What’s this?” Felicity marched towards a stoic Oliver and threw the paper at his head. It bounced off and landed at her feet, staring up at her with the large red circles around listings on the real estate page. Oliver just shrugged.

“Fine. I don’t have time for this.” Felicity threw her hands in the air as she went back to her room.

“Wouldn’t want to keep Ray waiting.” Oliver sneered, taking another sip of his drink.

“I heard that.” Felicity told him as she emerged from her room, putting an earring on. Oliver shrugged again, not caring.

“Oliver, this was _your_ idea remember? You told me to get to know the guy.”

“I meant find out about him Felicity, not date him.” He growled.

“Well one thing led to another.” Felicity shrugged, turning to go to the kitchen. Oliver noticed that the back of her dress was not zipped up all the way and he rose from the couch to follow her.

Felicity was standing at the sink as she gulped down a glass of water. As always she didn’t hear Oliver approach, what with his ninja skills and all, so she jumped as he placed his hands on her bare back.

“Don’t go.” He whispered to her as he slowly zipped the dress closed.

“Give me one good reason not to?” Felicity breathed out the question, reveling in the warmth of his hands on her shoulders.

“You know why.”

“No, I don’t.” Felicity denied quietly, turning so that she could look up at him. His hands fell from her shoulders, but he placed them on the sink on either side of her so she was effectively trapped in his arms.

“I think you do.” Oliver murmured, lowering his head to Felicity’s and capturing her lips in a soft kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, the season 3 spoilers are creeping into my one shots!


	16. Do you hear yourself?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity isn't impressed with Oliver's idea of a background check

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little expansion on the scene when Oliver wakes to find Barry in the lair

Felicity sits beside Oliver’s prone form with a worried look on her face. She holds tight to his hand, reassuring herself that he is here and the faint flutter of his pulse is real. He is going to be fine.

“He’s waking up.” Felicity announces with a smile when she feels a twitch against her fingers. Reluctantly she lets go and turns to the table behind her to grab some supplies that they will need when Oliver comes to.

Oliver’s eyes flutter open and he realises that he is in the lair. With his ability to take note of everything around him without even seeing it, he easily senses that both Felicity and Dig are near him, but does not recognise the third entity in the room.

“Um, hi.” Barry mumbles when he sees Oliver is awake, giving a sheepish wave at his hero. He doesn’t expect to suddenly be facing a very angry vigilante who is holding his throat in a vice-like grip. Dig immediately jumps in and pulls on Oliver’s shoulder, trying to get him to loosen his hold but the man has no intention of letting go.

Upon hearing the commotion, Felicity quickly turns. Seeing Oliver trying to kill Barry, she drops what is in her hands back onto the table, and stepping forward she places a soft hand on Oliver’s bicep.

“Oliver, let go.” She demands gently. At her voice, Oliver glances down at the small hand with bright blue nail polish that is on his arm and with his gaze on Felicity’s face, lets go.

“Someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” Oliver commands, looking over his shoulder at his team.

“You were injected with something. We brought Barry here to help you.” Felicity explains.

“You brought him here?” Oliver asks her incredulously.

“Well technically Dig did. Barry is a bit heavy.”

“Hey.” Barry objects to the comment.

“I knocked you out. You were dead weight man.” Dig confirms, expanding on Felicity’s statement.

“That’s what I said.” Felicity maintains.

Oliver holds up his hand in a stop gesture, indicating that they should all stop talking.

“I meant you brought him _here_? You told him who I was?”

“I’m not about to apologise for saving your life Oliver.” Felicity tells him with a roll of her eyes.

“But that’s not your secret to tell, Felicity. I decide who finds out my identity.” Oliver informs her, a hurt expression in his eyes.

“Well we didn’t have time to get your vote.” Felicity argues as she marches around the table so that she is standing toe to toe with him. “What with you _dying_ and all.”

Oliver runs an annoyed hand down his face. “Well, what happens if he tells someone? Did you think about that?”

“He won’t tell anyone.” Felicity says with certainty and waves an arm at Barry when he parrots the guarantee. “I trust him.”

“Well I don’t.” Oliver roars.

“What are you going to do, put an arrow in him?” Felicity asks him sarcastically.

“I’m considering it.” Oliver growls, turning to Barry with a glare.

“Don’t worry, he’s kidding!” Felicity assures Barry but doesn’t look away from a seething Oliver.

“I’m not kidding.”

“It doesn’t sound like he’s kidding.”

Oliver and Barry mention at the same time, but Felicity ignores both of them. Poking a finger into Oliver’s arm, Felicity makes him face her.

“How is this any different to when your mother shot you and you came to me for help? Or when you brought Dig down here because he was poisoned with curare?”

“The difference is I did my homework on both of you!” Oliver explodes.

“Wait, what?” Felicity takes a step back at his confession.

“I looked you both up. Made sure that I knew who I was letting in.”

“Do you hear yourself? That doesn’t sound stalker-ish _at all_.” Felicity tells him mockingly.

Dig looks amused as he walks around to where Barry is standing, leaning on the table beside him.

“I should have brought popcorn.” Dig whispers to the newcomer as they watch the show unfold.

“Does this happen a lot?” Barry whispers back. Dig just shrugs in reply.

“And what did our files say exactly on our ability to keep a vigilante’s secret?”

“That’s not the point.” Oliver sighs as he tries to walk away from the fiery blonde. But she will have none of that, pulling back on his arm so he stays put.

“That _is_ the point, Oliver. I doubt my file told you anything about how I would handle finding a bleeding wanted criminal in green leather on my back seat.”

“It told me enough, okay?”

“No not okay!” Felicity pokes him again, this time in the chest.

“That’s such an invasion of privacy, Oliver. I can’t believe you did that to me. Or to Dig.” Felicity waves a hand in Dig’s direction.

“Hey, don’t bring me into this.” Dig speaks up and Oliver nods.

They are interrupted when Oliver’s phone sounds, indicating a message. Oliver quickly reads it, relieved to see that it is a beckon to come home.

“I have to go.” Oliver announces, walking away from the group.

“We are _not_ done here.” Felicity yells at his retreating back.

“Yes. We are.” Oliver says with finality as he heads up the stairs. Felicity shakes her head and stalks off towards the back of the basement.

“Stupid vigilante and his stupid secrets and his stupid lack of boundaries.” Barry and Dig hear her mutter as she walks past.

“Are they always that intense?” Barry asks the older member of the team beside him.

“You don’t know the half of it kid.”

 


	17. Are those wedding bells I detect?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Oliver sing the praises of the IT girl

Oliver bounced a few tennis balls towards the practice wall and aimed his bow at them, intending to fire off a few arrows to pierce the little green fuzzy circles. However the balls fell without damage to the ground as Oliver quickly turned and pointed his bow towards the top of the stairs when he heard the door open.

“Seriously, you were amazing.” Oliver heard from the first feminine voice as footsteps sounded on the stairs.

“All I did was stand there.” He heard the second female sigh as the voices got closer.

Oliver visibly relaxed, letting his bow arm drop down to his side as he recognised the two voices and realised there was no threat.

“Felicity you did more than that. Thank you for helping me out tonight.” Sara praised as she hopped up onto the desk where the computer monitors lived.

“Where were you two? And _what_ are you wearing?” Oliver asked, directing the last question to Felicity as he took in her outfit of tight black leather and Sara’s signature blonde wig on her head.

“It’s nothing.” Felicity quickly answered, pulling off the wig and mask combo and throwing it onto the desk beside Sara.

“Laurel was getting a little too close to the truth about the Canary, so I had Felicity do a little job for me.”

“You what?” Oliver yelled, storming over to Felicity, physically checking her body for injuries.

“Relax, I’m fine. Did you not hear me say that all I did was stand there?” Felicity assured him, stepping away from him and his insistent hands. Oliver raised his eyebrow, clearly not buying that that’s _all_ she had to do tonight.

“Fine, so maybe I said a few words.” Felicity conceded.

“And performed a very nice roundhouse kick followed by a few punches.” Sara added, nudging her elbow into Felicity’s ribs.

“Not helping.” Felicity whispered to the other blonde, noticing how Oliver’s jaw locked and his fist clenched.

“Please tell me there’s nothing else.” Oliver bit out through clenched teeth.

“That’s it. I promise.” Felicity swore with her hands up in a surrender gesture.

“If it helps, the guy she attacked knew what was coming. She was never in any danger.” Sara offered.

“She shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Oliver roared.

“Gee it sure is fun being talked about like I’m not here.” Felicity muttered under her breath. “I’m going to go and get out of this thing.” She said louder, pointing to the back of the lair where the bathroom was. “I probably look ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously hot, you mean.” Sara called out to the retreating back of the IT expert.

“Admit it Ollie, she looked hot.” Sara prompted Oliver, pointing to where Felicity had disappeared.

“That’s not the point.” Oliver avoided saying the obvious _yes_. “Sara, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I finally had my sister back in my life. My innocent sister who I don’t want to see become a part of this world of villains and crime. I wasn’t going to let all of _this_ ruin that.” Sara told him as she pointed around the room and what their existence had become.

“Fine, I get it.” Oliver sighed, running a hand down his face. “Tell me what happened.”

“I’ve been noticing that Laurel’s been getting much better at connecting the dots, especially since the Canary’s been more in the media lately. She’s picked up that whenever the Canary is spotted, I am nowhere to be found. Doesn’t help that I’ve been staying with her since you and I ended things.”

“You know you’re still welcome to stay here.” Oliver suggested. Sara shook her head.

“No, this makes sense. After everything at home you need your own space, and I _want_ to be with Laurel.”

“So where does Felicity come into this?”

“Well tonight, while Laurel and I were walking home from dinner, I planned it so that some guy would start hassling us. And then Felicity showed up as the Canary. She took the guy down, rescued Laurel and I, and was soon on her way. Laurel can’t possibly think _I’m_ the Canary now that she’s seen us both in the same place.” Sara grinned at her brilliant idea.

“And you’re sure that Felicity wasn’t hurt?” Oliver demanded.

“Yes Ollie, I’m sure.” Sara insisted with a roll of her eyes. “You should have seen her. I know she does great work for you here, but you should really let her out in the field more.”

“That’s not happening.” Oliver was adamant.

“Why not? She was great.” Sara urged. “It was like she just appeared out of nowhere and even though she’s short, she just had a presence about her, you know. One that demanded attention. And then she was all “I heard the trash needed to be taken out.” Such a Felicity thing to say and with the voice modulator on, it was fierce. Then she kicked ass.”

“Are those wedding bells I detect?” Oliver grinned, watching as Sara’s face lit up when she talked about Felicity’s actions from tonight.

“What? No.” Sara waved away his comment. “I’m just saying.”

“I need her here.” Oliver simply shrugged in response. “No one else can do what she does. You’ve seen her system and not even Dig knows how to use it even though he’s been here since the beginning and watched her set it up. She can direct me to where I want to go, can pull up video and sound footage that I need in no time at all _plus_ show it to me wherever I am, hack into highly protected databases to get information or to destroy it.”

“Are those wedding bells I detect?” Sara teased as she noticed how Oliver’s face also lit up as he described Felicity’s work for him.

“Shut up.” Oliver growled, picking up his bow and going back to the practice wall just as Felicity emerged from the back, now dressed in her usual skinny jeans and a bright jumper.

“What did I miss?” Felicity questioned as she took in Oliver’s frown and Sara’s grin.

“You’re cute.” Was all Sara said as she jumped off the table and went over to the training dummy.


	18. Don't leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver isn't pleased when he thinks Felicity is drunk... which is nothing compared to how he is when he realises there is more to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, last one for now. Warning - not my favourite

The ballroom is sufficiently occupied with the usual faces of the wealthy, immaculately dressed and high profile members of Starling City. They form small groups around the room, eager to hear (and tell) the latest gossip in an attempt to liven up their mediocre lives

And in the middle of it all is the ruggedly handsome new CEO of the shaky, though still standing, Queen Consolidated empire. He stands tall in his designer suit, trademark smile (that Felicity can tell, from all the way over there, is fake) in place as he stands holding a glass of champagne and listening to Mrs Broomfield who has roped him into a conversation.

Luckily, his bodyguard and friend spots his desire to _not_ be involved in this exchange and strides over to save his boss.

“Excuse me Mr Queen.” Dig politely interrupts Mrs Broomfield’s story about the antics of her 2 year old granddaughter. “Ms Loring is on the phone.”

“I should take that.” Oliver tells Mrs Broomfield. “It’s my mother’s lawyer, there may be some progress in the case that she needs to discuss with me. If you’ll excuse me.”

“Of course dear. Family always comes first.” Mrs Broomfield pats Oliver’s arm as she walks away from the two gentleman.

“Thanks.” Oliver mutters to Dig, who holds out the phone so Oliver can take it.

“She’s not seriously on the phone is she?” Oliver hesitates as he takes the mobile from his friend.

“No. But unless you want Mrs Donaldson to come over and regale you with how little Benji got his head stuck in the railing of their new staircase, you’ll take the phone and make it look like you’re on a call.”

“Right.” Oliver nods as he puts the phone to his ear, giving short answers to non-existent questions at appropriate intervals so it would appear that he is on the phone to someone.

As Oliver is on the fake phone call, Dig looks around the room and easily spots Felicity sitting at the bar with some random guy by her side. She gives him an enthusiastic wave when she notices him looking in her direction, before turning back to her friend and finishing off the last few drops of whatever was in that fancy glass she is holding.

“Hey who’s that over there with Felicity?” Dig queries, turning Oliver around so he can see the third member of their team and her company, as Felicity places the now empty glass on the counter and turns to said companion.

“No idea.” Oliver shrugs, as he squints slightly to get a better look at the person with Felicity. The squint quickly turns to a glare when Felicity puts her hand on the stranger’s chest and leans in closer, giving the guy the opportunity to wrap an arm around her waist.

“Well that’s new.” Dig comments as he observes the way Felicity is smiling and touching this random guy.

“We should check it out.” Oliver instructs, walking purposefully over to the pair. Dig notices Oliver’s hands clench into fists as Felicity leans in to whisper in the stranger’s ear.

“I didn’t say it was a _bad_ thing.” Dig sighs, following Oliver over there.

* * *

“Felicity.” Oliver greets as he comes up behind Felicity and places a hand on her shoulder, subtly pulling her back so she isn’t so close to the new person.

“Oliver. Hi!” Felicity turns enthusiastically to her boss, throwing her arms around him in a hug. Oliver is startled by the unusual contact but recovers quickly and wraps his arms around her for a second before sitting her back on the stool.

“And Dig. Hi!” Felicity greets John just as enthusiastically when she sees him standing behind Oliver. But thankfully this time she doesn’t leap out of her chair for a hug. Instead she settles on an over the top wave which John returns with a smaller one.

“My two favourite boys, meet Nick.” Felicity waves her hand at the newbie who is nervously watching the intimidating muscle that have just arrived.

“Um, hi.” Nick gives the boys a sheepish wave, getting stern nods in return.

“So Nick, what brings you here? This is an _exclusive_ event.” Oliver asks, pointing out how the party is only for certain people. Which Oliver observes Nick clearly isn’t, he notices as he takes in Nick’s shabby suit.

“Oliver, be nice.” Felicity scolds, swatting at Oliver’s chest.

“My society mother dragged me along since I’m in town this weekend. I was trying to be inconspicuous so I came over to the bar and thankfully, I ran into Felicity here.” Nick explains as he offers a small smile in Felicity’s direction.

Oliver notices how Felicity grins back at Nick and reaches out to lay a hand on his arm.

“Yes she is quite the company.” Oliver agrees as he steps closer behind Felicity until his torso is flat against her back. Felicity leans into the contact with Oliver and Oliver smirks as he watches her hand fall away from Nick’s arm.

“So I’m lucky she chooses to spend most of her time with me.” Oliver adds, placing a hand on Felicity’s bare shoulder.

“Chooses. Ordered.” Felicity raises her hands as if weighing the two words “What’s the difference?” she playfully glares at Oliver and he smiles down at her.

“I’ll just leave you two to figure that out shall I?” Nick tells them as he jumps off his bar stool.

“Nice to meet you.” He smiles politely at them all as he walks away quickly, wanting to be far away from Oliver and Dig’s formidable looks.

“But…” Felicity pouts as she watches Nick leave. Angrily, she turns on the stool so she is now facing Oliver.

“Why did you do that?” Felicity demands, poking her finger into his chest. “Nick was my friend.”

“Felicity, you already have friends. Dig and I are your friends.” Oliver reminds her. John quickly nods as he moves to stand beside Oliver.

“But you’re not friends who will sleep with me.” Felicity points out. “Well maybe _you_ would if you weren’t so ‘grr’ all the time and clearly obsessed with Gorgeous Laurel. But Dig wouldn’t.” she clarifies.

Dig coughs to cover his laugh, not only at Felicity’s claw like gestures and surprisingly good imitation of Oliver’s Arrow face, but at Oliver’s wide eyed expression at Felicity’s words.

“Nick probably would have.” Felicity pouts again. “But now I’ll never know because you had to come over here and be _you_.”

“Speaking of you.” Felicity grins up at Oliver as she plays with his tie.

“Uh, Felicity?” Oliver questions when she pulls him closer.

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are?” Felicity tells him, using her hands to explore the hard muscle underneath his dress shirt.

“Not pretty as in _girl_ pretty, because you definitely aren’t a girl. I’ve seen you in those leather pants, and without a shirt, and half dressed. Huh, I’ve seen you a lot.” Felicity realises. “Anyway point is, you’re a guy.”

“I am.” Oliver agrees and quickly changes the subject. “Felicity how many drinks have you had?”

“Maybe about…” Felicity squints as she holds out her hand and counts using her fingers. “This many.” She holds up 3 fingers.

“You’ve had more than that.” Oliver counters. “Look at you.”

“Pfft, I can’t exactly _look_ at myself Oliver. There isn’t a mirror around.” Felicity laughs at her joke. Loudly. Oliver notices out of the corner of his eye that a few people turn their way. Whispers can be heard as the guests take notice of his blonde EA.

“Maybe we should take this elsewhere?” Dig suggests, moving to Felicity’s side to block her from being seen by those in attendance tonight.

“Good idea.” Oliver huffs as he pulls Felicity up from her chair and starts to lead her to another room.

* * *

“Where are we going?” Felicity asks as the three make their way down a small hallway whose walls are covered with a number of rare paintings.

“Away.” Is all that Oliver gives her as he half guides her, half drags her along.

“Ooh are you finally giving in to all this?” Felicity saucily questions him, motioning to herself. Though in her state it’s a bit more graceless than graceful.

“Felicity.” Oliver groans as they continue walking.

“Come on Ollie. You know you want to.” Felicity purrs, running a hand along his back as he walks in front of her, trying to ignore her.

“Wait.” Dig stops, pulling on Oliver’s shoulder to get him to turn around. “Something isn’t right.”

Oliver turns to his bodyguard with a sigh.

“And you’re just realising this now?” Oliver asks skeptically, pointing at a swaying Felicity.

“Oliver, she’s not drunk.” Dig tell him but Oliver just scoffs. “She’s not like this man. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Felicity drunk and she would _never_ do it at an event that she knows is important to the company.”

“Well there’s a first time for everything.” Oliver states, turning to continue walking while pulling Felicity along with him.

“And this isn’t it. Oliver, she doesn’t call you Ollie.” Dig points out, staying put.

“Sure she does. Everyone calls me Ollie.” Oliver shrugs like it’s nothing as he motions for Dig to follow him.

“Not her.” Dig argues, indicating Felicity who is trying to snuggle into Oliver’s side. “It’s _always_ Oliver, or if she’s being creative Mr Broody McBrood or Growly Face Guy. Never Ollie.”

Oliver stops and turns back to Dig, the expression on his face showing that he’s just realised what Dig is saying is the truth. He can’t think of a time when Felicity has _ever_ called him Ollie.

“Felicity.” Oliver starts, placing both hands on Felicity’s shoulders so she looks up at him.

“Yes Ollie?” Felicity replies, batting her long eyelashes at him.

“Were you telling the truth before when you said you’d only had 3 drinks?”

“Uh huh. I had a glass of champagne when we arrived, and of course for the toast after your speech. And then I had a cocktail while I was sitting at the bar.” Felicity tells him.

“What was in the cocktail?” Oliver explores.

“Oh I don’t know.” Felicity waves wildly. “Nick bought it. It was blue. See.” Felicity opens her mouth wide, showing Oliver her blue tongue. Oliver nods but doesn’t comment as Felicity continues.

“It didn’t really taste like anything, mostly lemonade. But it did have a weird after taste, like I’d just eaten some soap. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want to be rude so I kept drinking it. And the more I drank, the less I could notice the weird taste.”

“Oliver, I think she’s been drugged.” Dig whispers.

“I’ve been what?” Felicity squeaks having heard Dig. She looks at Oliver with wide eyes and he now notices how dilated her pupils are. He can barely see any blue anymore.

“You’re fine.” Oliver reassures her. “You could still remember what you did earlier tonight, and you’ve only been acting strange for the past 10 minutes or so.”

“Strange? Strange how?” Felicity pulls on Oliver’s arm, pleading for him to tell her.

“It doesn’t matter.” Oliver disregards.

“It _does_ matter. What did I do that was so strange?”

“Well,” Dig starts to explain.

“Nothing.” Oliver stops his friend with a glare. “You did nothing.”

“I don’t feel so well.” Felicity moans as she leans against the wall of the hallway and slides down it with Oliver’s help until she is sitting on the floor. She closes her eyes and leans her head back.

“Nick did this?” Oliver growls at Dig, still crouched in front of the blonde.

“Looks like it.” Dig shrugs. “He’s probably got a grudge against the Queens because of your mother’s role in the Undertaking last year. He would have known you were close to Felicity since she’s been glued to your side since you made her your EA last month. So he attacks Felicity, ergo attacking you in the process.”

“Well he’s not getting away with this.” Oliver promises as he stands up, ready to walk out the door and suit up so he can confront the guy. Knowing where he is planning on going, Dig stops Oliver with a hand on his chest.

“Look, I don’t like this as much as you. But you can’t go after him as the Arrow.” Dig reasons.

“She could have been hurt.” Oliver fumes, pointing at Felicity.

“I know that. But what do you think you’re going to do. Put an arrow in him?”

“I’m considering it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous man. Don’t you think it would be a little suspicious that when something happens to _your_ EA, the Arrow appears and threatens the guy behind it?”

“Fine. I’ll go as Oliver Queen then. He can do just as much damage.” Oliver compromises, ready to walk around Dig.

“What, where are you going?” Felicity’s eyes snap open when she hears what he’s doing. “Don’t leave.” She begs him.

“I need to go after the guy who did this. Dig will stay here with you.” Oliver assures her as he kneels down in front of her.

“But why can’t Dig go?” Felicity questions sadly. “I want you to stay here.” She grabs Oliver’s hand between both of hers.

“Felicity, I have to go find this guy.” Oliver states softly. Felicity continues to frown, not liking this plan.

“It’s fine Oliver. I’ll go.” Dig proposes and with a clap on Oliver’s shoulder is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go watch the latest season 3 trailer if you haven't already. That is all.


	19. I can't see anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity discovers a downside to being Oliver Queen's assistant and confronts him about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, so hi... It's been over 2 years since my last post but I thought I should finish these last 7 prompts from the dialogue list. I've gone with something short, light and fluffy to get back into the swing of things. Enjoy!

As Oliver walked onto the CEO floor of Queen Consolidated with Dig trailing behind him, he rounded the corner only to be faced with an empty desk. He stopped abruptly, causing Dig to pull up short so as to avoid colliding with his boss’ back, and looked at his watch.  
“Dig, what time is it?” Oliver asked, tapping the glass thinking it might have stopped working.  
“It’s nearing 10 o’clock Oliver.” Dig confirmed, looking at his own watch.  
“Did Felicity say she had something on this morning?”  
“Not to me.” Dig shook his head.  
“Huh.” Oliver continued into his office and immediately picked up the phone, ready to find out the whereabouts of his blonde friend. Before he could dial her number though, he heard a ding as the elevator stopped at this floor. Then came the telltale sound of clicking heels as she approached.

When Felicity came into view, Dig nodded at her in greeting.  
“Morning” he said, but Felicity held up a hand to silence him and stormed into Oliver’s office.  
“O-kay…” Dig just popped a mint into his mouth and continued to stand guard outside Oliver’s door.  
“That’s it. I’ve had enough.” Felicity complained as she stopped in front of Oliver’s desk.  
“What now?” Oliver leaned forward in his chair, clasping his hands in front of him on the table.  
“This stupid job. I don’t want it.”  
“We’ve talked about this.” Oliver sighed. “We all need secret identities now.”  
“Yeah well that was before I got hurt.” Felicity pouted.  
“You’re hurt? What happened?” Oliver sounded panicked as he quickly stood.  
She ignored him and continued with her rant while she paced the office.  
“First you pull me away from a job that I liked and was actually good at.” Felicity put one finger in the air.  
“You’re good at this job too.” Dig interrupted.  
“Not the point.” Felicity glared in the direction Dig was standing. “Second,” another finger goes up. “All day you just order me around like some… like some… assistant!”  
“Well you are his assistant.” Dig mumbled to himself just as Oliver spoke up to defend himself.  
“I have to do that.” Oliver pointed out, taking a seat again.  
“No, you don’t.” Felicity disagreed as she walked over to Oliver and leaned against his desk. He swung his chair around so that he was facing her.  
“Thirdly I had to fit in here. Look the part. Have you seen what I need to wear in this position?”  
“I may have noticed.” Oliver smirked slightly as Dig shook his head. A small blush rose in Felicity’s cheeks at Oliver’s words, but she maintained a stern face.  
“Look.” She turned and stuck out her right leg, pointing at her knee.  
“What?” Oliver asked as he inspected her bare leg.  
“I have a bruise.”  
“Where?”  
“Right there!” Felicity insisted as she kept pointing at the same spot.  
“I can’t see anything.”  
“Well it’s going to be a bruise. I hit it while I was getting into my car. These pencil skirts are very restricting.”  
“Felicity, you’re not going to bruise.” Oliver assured her, turning back to his desk. “Now can we get back to work?”  
“How would you know?” Felicity frowned, crossing her arms across her chest.  
“That you’re not going to bruise, or that we should get back to work?” Oliver grinned, earning a tiny slap from Felicity.  
“The bruise you idiot.”  
“I happen to have some experience with being hit and all things bruises.” Oliver shrugged.  
“Oh.” Felicity allowed. “Still, I don’t think that makes you an expert.”  
“I also have some experience with the range of motion allowed by a pencil skirt. You’re not going to bruise.” Oliver repeated. Felicity rolled her eyes.  
“Do I want to know?” Felicity turned to Dig.  
“Probably not.” He shook his head.  
“I hit it pretty hard.” Felicity tried again, sticking her leg out. Oliver pushed Felicity’s legs together.  
“You’re fine. Now back to your desk.” Oliver motioned for her to return to her spot on the other side of the glass.

Felicity huffed as she walked into the other room, only to grab her purse off the desk having dumped it there when she had entered.  
“Where are you going?” Oliver asked when he saw what she was doing.  
“I’m taking a sick day since I’m injured.” Felicity called back as she stalked to the elevator.


	20. You stole that from me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An overprotective Oliver visits Felicity and is surprised to see what she's wearing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cast your minds back my friends. Another episode specific fic – set after 2x15.

Felicity lay on her couch, propped up on one elbow with her hand holding up her head, allowing a pillow to sit behind her left shoulder to try and soothe the dull ache that had returned since being shot last week. She mindlessly watched the images flash across the TV screen, unable to take any of it in as she thought back to the events of that very night. When she had taken that call from Oliver and they had heard that voice echoing over the line, Felicity had looked around at the Team. While Dig and Roy had just look confused as they had no idea who the voice belonged to, Sara’s look of confusion was for an entirely different reason because she sure as hell had known who it was. And then her next words definitely caused Felicity to become terrified.

After the three headed out to go save the day, all Felicity could do was sit and wait to hear what the outcome was. She had been waiting anxiously at her computers with her phone close at hand, when Roy had come down the stairs. Felicity immediately sprung out of her chair and ran over to him, visually checking for any cuts, scrapes or bruises. Thankfully, she didn’t find any.  
“What happened?” Felicity demanded as she stood with Roy in the middle of the lair.  
“Nothing much.” Roy shrugged. “Slade was in the living room with them, but when Sara and I showed up he must have realised he was outnumbered and he left.”  
“He left? Just like that?” Felicity asked shocked.  
“Well yeah. I guess he didn’t want to expose anything to Moira and Thea.”  
“And John?”  
“Someone jumped him.” Roy explained.  
“What?!”  
“Felicity, he’s fine.” Roy reassured her quickly. “He’s fine. Sara and I must have gotten to him not long after it had happened. He’s going to have a big headache in the morning.”

Felicity was abruptly brought back to the present when she heard knocking coming from the direction of her front door. Swinging her legs over the edge of the couch, she rose slowly as she tried not to move her shoulder too much, and made her way to see who it was. As she was still halfway to the door, another loud knock came.  
“Yeah yeah, I’m coming.” Felicity mumbled to herself, but she called out that she’d be right there.  
The person at her door must not have heard her though, because the knocking only continued. They must have been desperate for her to answer as the knocking soon turned to pounding. Well, that explained who it was going to be and as soon as Felicity could reach the handle, she threw open the door.  
“Oliver, wh-” She started to argue but she was interrupted in her question when he pulled her to him. Felicity struggled to breathe as his arms banded around her. She let out a squeak and he let her go.  
“Seriously Oliver, what’s going on?” Felicity questioned him as they remained standing at her door.  
“I saw Slade tonight.”  
“I know, and?”  
“And he said he was here to fulfill a promise.”  
“What promise?” Felicity asked confused.  
“He’s going to make me suffer. He wants me to know complete despair. He’s going to hurt all the people I love.”  
“Oh my god – Moira, Thea, Laurel. We need to protect them.” Felicity immediately straightens in alarm, letting go of the open door she was leaning against.  
“They’re fine.” Oliver dismissed as he walked around her to go further into the house, closing the door. “Dig has organised tighter security at the house, plus Roy’s there. And Sara is staying with Laurel.”  
“Good, good.” Felicity nodded, following him. “But you should be with them. What are you doing here?”  
“He’s going to hurt the people I love.”  
“You already said that. All the more reason for you to be with them.”  
“I am. I need to protect you.”  
“Oliver don’t be ridiculous.” Felicity waved away his concern and walked back to the couch, flopping down onto it. “He probably doesn’t even know about me.”  
“He’s been watching us for months. He knew things Felicity.” Oliver argued, sitting beside her. “You stole that from me.” Oliver pointed at her, finally noticing what she is wearing.  
“What?” Felicity was thrown by the change in topic and looked down. She was wearing Oliver’s blue button down shirt from that night with The Clock King over a pair of sleep shorts.  
“Oh.” Felicity blushed. “So funny story. I might have still had it on when Dig brought me home that night, and so I figured that I would wash it and iron it for you and then I was going to give it right back, I swear. So I had it all ready for you but then I kept forgetting it. Like seriously, every night I would think ‘I have to take that shirt tomorrow and give it to Oliver’, and then every morning – poof! I would just forget. So it sat here for days and days, when finally I realised that I should leave it out where I would see it. So it was lying at the end of my bed which meant it was the closest thing I could find when I got home and I just grabbed it and threw it on.” She finished her story with a huge breath out.  
“Felicity, it’s not a problem.” Oliver reassured her, patting her bare knee. “Keep it.”  
“No, no.” Felicity argued, starting on the bottom buttons. “I can’t keep your shirt.”  
“Felicity, stop.” Oliver stilled her hands with one of his own. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got plenty.”  
Felicity laughed. “Really? ‘Cause the amount of times you strut around without a shirt on, I thought you’d run out.”  
“I do not strut.” Oliver pouted.


	21. I want to help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity heads home but all is not as it seems. Lucky she has Oliver with her.

Felicity’s eyes widened comically as she caught sight of the time when she glanced at the bottom right of her computer screen. Thinking it must be a mistake, surely her and Oliver had not stayed in the lair that late, she checked her watch to confirm the time. From his position up on the Salmon Ladder, Oliver saw Felicity look at her watch and called out to her.  
“Am I keeping you from something?”  
Felicity glared at Oliver’s hanging form. “Actually yes, my bed.”  
“Your what?” Oliver looked confused as he dropped to the mat, picking up a towel to wipe down his sweaty bare chest and approached his IT genius.  
“My bed.” Felicity huffed. “My nice, soft, comfortable bed.”  
“Felicity it’s not even 9 o’clock at night. Surely you’re used to the late nights by now.”  
“Oliver, it’s almost midnight.” Felicity declared, standing up and grabbing her things. “Let’s go home. I mean I’ll go to my home and you go to your home. Not that yours is a home, it’s more like a mansion. You must be really rich.”  
Oliver shook his head fondly as he ignored Felicity’s ramble.  
“It can’t be.” Oliver denied, returning to their conversation about the time. He picked up his phone that sat on the side of the desk. “It’s… 11.42.”  
“Told ya.” Felicity sang as she continued packing up. “Night Oliver.”  
Felicity moved away from her desk and started for the stairs to exit the lair when she felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Oliver stopping her from leaving.  
“Felicity, it’s late. I’m not just going to let you go home alone.”  
Felicity rolled her eyes. “Oliver, it’s not like this is the first time. And it sure as hell won’t be the last.”  
“Just humour me.” Oliver said as he threw on a shirt and they walked out of the lair together.

It was a quiet drive back to Felicity’s place as Oliver sat silently in the passenger seat while Felicity navigated the empty streets. Felicity had driven that night so it made sense for her to drive the two of them to hers and then Oliver could make his way back to Verdant to pick up his bike.  
“Well here we are.” Felicity declared as she pulled into her parking space and made to get out of the car.  
“Wait.” Oliver reached out and Felicity stopped what she was doing, turning to him expectantly. “I’ll come with you to make sure you get inside ok.”  
“Oliver, I think I can manage to walk 5 feet without anything happening.”  
“Just humour me.” Oliver repeated what he had said earlier that night, grinning as he followed Felicity to her door.  
“See. Home sweet home.” Felicity waved her hand to indicate they had arrived at her door without incident. Which is exactly what she had told him would happen. Oliver frowned as he noticed her door sitting slightly ajar.  
“Felicity, did you forget to close your door when you left earlier?”  
It was now Felicity’s turn to frown as she turned to see the open door for herself.  
“Of course not.” Felicity shook her head vehemently. She went to push the door wider and step inside when she felt a tug on her shoulder.  
“Stay here.” Oliver ordered as he stepped around her and into the dark house. Felicity crossed her arms across her chest in annoyance.  
“But I want to help.” Felicity whisper-yelled after him.

Felicity had been standing at the threshold of her door for what felt like hours (but was probably less than 5 minutes) while Oliver checked things out inside. Felicity stomped her feet in an effort to ward off the chill of the night air. Shaking her head since there was a nice warm space right there, Felicity decided to just go inside.  
She slowly inched her way down the hallway since Oliver being Oliver, had not deemed to turn on any of the lights as he walked through her house, probably because he was like a bat and could see perfectly fine in the dark. Felicity came to an abrupt stop when she heard a loud noise coming from the direction of her kitchen.  
“Stop being ridiculous.” Felicity told herself. “It’s probably just Oliver.”  
Felicity continued forward but halted immediately when she heard another loud bang, this time coming from the opposite side of her apartment. So was Oliver in the kitchen, or was he at the back of the house? Felicity’s heart started beating faster as she slowly made her way to the kitchen door. On her way there, she looked around for anything that she could use to attack an intruder. She realised she was lacking in any of the usual protection items such as a baseball bat, golf club, hockey stick – why was it all sport-related? Not that it mattered because she didn’t have any of it. No, instead Felicity picked up the closest thing she could grab.  
As Felicity approached the closed door of her kitchen, she tried to listen to what was happening inside. She didn’t hear anything as she raised her weapon higher above her head and reached out to open the door. Before she could though, the door swung open and she was pushed back into the opposite wall with a strong forearm across her throat.  
“Felicity?” Oliver barked as he stepped back quickly and removed his arm from cutting off Felicity’s air supply.  
“Oliver?” Felicity coughed, rubbing at her neck. “What are you doing?”  
“What am I doing? What are you doing?” Oliver fumed. “And what are you holding?”  
Felicity held up the offending object and looked at it like she was just seeing it for the first time. It was the little ceramic dish that she kept on a table in the hallway for her keys and any loose change that she didn’t want to carry around.  
“Oh, this was my weapon.”  
Oliver chuckled. “Your what?”  
“I figured I could use it to, you know, hit them over the head or something.” Felicity stood on her tippy toes to hold the dish above Oliver and mimed bringing it down onto his head. Oliver pulled her arms back down to her side, taking the dish from her and putting it down nearby.  
“All that would do is smash your pretty dish into a thousand pieces, and probably piss off said intruder.”  
Felicity crossed her arms in annoyance. “So what do you think I should do?”  
“Nothing.” Oliver replied immediately. “That’s why I told you to stay outside while I checked it out.”  
“Yeah that wasn’t going to happen.” Felicity argued, pushing past him to go back into the living room, turning on the lights as she went.  
“Why not? I gave you an order.” Oliver followed her and took a seat on the couch.  
“Like you listen to me when I tell you to stay put.” Felicity rolled her eyes, sitting cross-legged next to him and pulling a pillow into her lap.  
“That’s different. I can handle myself.”  
“And you’re saying I can’t.” Felicity said slowly as she realised it. “Nice to know you have so much faith in me.”  
“It’s not that.” Oliver said tiredly, running a hand over his face. “I just need you to be safe.”  
“Oh my god.” Felicity laughed. “How many times do we need to have this conversation Oliver?”  
“As many times as we need to. Until you realise that I’m the vigilante here, and you’re the IT girl.”  
“Yeah, boring IT girl.” Felicity pouted, pulling the pillow closer to her body.  
“I didn’t say that.” Oliver sighed as he turned to face her and took her hand. “I don’t think I could handle seeing you get hurt. Please, just stay out of harm’s way.”  
Felicity smiled and it seemed she was going to agree with Oliver’s chauvinistic view.  
“No promises.” Felicity pulled her hand back, threw the pillow at a stunned Oliver and went to her room.


	22. You're scaring me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when the world starts thinking that Felicity Smoak is helping The Arrow, The Arrow drops by for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is dedicated to lostolicityscenes and the awesome story Random Olicity Scenes (chapter 37 to be exact) for inspiring this story. I have added them as a co-creator because they wanted to be tagged- I hope that's the way to do it.

Felicity gulped loudly as she faced the pointy end of the very sharp arrow pointed directly at her.  
"Felicity Smoak. You have failed this city."  
xxxx

Felicity leant forward in her chair as she sat behind her large mahogany desk. She spoke quickly and passionately, each point exaggerated by wild gestures of her hands as she explained her vision to the people in front of her. Felicity had called a meeting with all the heads of the departments that she would need involved in this project. There was Diana from Marketing, her old boss Bob from IT and Todd from Applied Sciences.  
The department heads nodded along as Felicity voiced her random thoughts, looking impressed at her ability to come up with such an idea.  
Suddenly there was the sound of breaking glass as the large picture window in Felicity's office exploded and a figure jumped through. There were screams as everyone dropped to the floor, scrambling to the edge of the office with Felicity crouched in front of them, holding out a protective arm.  
With her eyes still cast downwards, Felicity first noticed the solid black combat boots standing in front of her. She raised her eyes over green leather clad thighs, a solid torso hidden under the iconic green hood before settling on a shadowed face, eyes hidden behind a mask. Felicity's jaw dropped as she realised The Arrow was the one attacking them.  
xxxx

Earlier that morning –  
Felicity yawned widely as she stretched her arms above her head before flopping them down next to her on the bed. Contemplating all the things she had to do that day, Felicity's thoughts were interrupted by a beep from her tablet. Reaching over to her side table, Felicity grabbed the device and pulled it in front of her to read the notification.  
Bolting upright, Felicity re-read the headline of the article open on her screen.

 **Has The Arrow Been Calling IT Support?**  
_Is Felicity Smoak behind the techy advances of Starling City's vigilante?_

"Seriously?"  
xxxx

"What do you want?"  
Felicity blurted out, trying to stay calm though she felt far from it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that her assistant, Dave, was on the phone to the cavalry. He nodded as he spoke to the person on the other end which she hoped meant they were on their way.  
"There have been a series of attacks on the city via the internet. A source has told me that the virus is a code written by you."  
"Are you sure it's mine?" Felicity questioned. The Arrow's only response was a further pulling back of the notched arrow.  
"Okay, okay." Felicity held out her hands in appeasement. "Even if it is mine, that doesn't mean that I'm the one behind these attacks."  
"My source tells me that there's only a handful of people that know this code."  
"Have they looked into the coding?" Felicity asked him. "When someone uses it, they would leave behind a trace of themselves which can be followed."  
"Do it." The Arrow demanded, indicating with his bow that Felicity should stand.  
"What?" Felicity squeaked as she got to her feet.  
"Over there." The Arrow motioned to her computer. Sounds of protest came from the others as Felicity started to move in that direction, Diana grabbing her hand to try and halt her movements.  
"It's okay." She reassured them as she headed over there. The Arrow followed her and forcefully pushed her down into her chair, taking up position behind her.  
"I still don't understand what you expect me to do." Felicity told him as she placed her hands over the keyboard.  
"Find out who is behind the virus."  
xxxx

Felicity hurried down the stairs into the lair, waving her tablet in the air as she navigated the narrow metal steps in her 5-inch heels.  
"We have a serious problem." She called out as she entered the empty space. She took her usual seat in front of the banks of computers.  
Oliver and Dig emerged from the back, both taking large swigs from the water bottles they held. Oliver motioned for Felicity to continue as they made their way over to her glistening with sweat after their workout.  
"This just came out." Felicity pulled up the article she had seen that morning.

 **Has The Arrow Been Calling IT Support?**  
_Is Felicity Smoak behind the techy advances of Starling City's vigilante?_

"Where did this come from?" Oliver demanded, pointing at the screen.  
"It was first posted on a well-known blog site, but it's now been picked up by multiple local news outlets."  
"Can you shut it down?" Dig asked.  
Felicity shook her head. "I tried, but it's being reposted by too many people. As soon as I take down one site, it pops up on 3 more."  
Oliver clenched his fist in frustration.  
"This isn't good." He muttered.  
"You don't have to tell me that." Felicity huffed as she reread the article.

_Felicity has always been a genius when it comes to computers and all things technological. First she placed 2nd in the National Information Technology competition at just 19, then she graduated from MIT with a master's degree in Cyber Security and Computer Sciences.  
So were those brains noticed, and then employed by the green archer? He has been seen using some pretty high-tech gadgets lately, not to mention how he is so privy to all that intel._

"Well they're not wrong." Dig shrugged. Felicity glared at him over her shoulder. "But that's beside the point." He quickly added.  
"What do we do?" Felicity questioned, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.  
"Felicity could come out and just deny the whole thing?" Dig suggested. "Or you could try telling Captain Lance that you don't work with anyone and prefer to work alone."  
"It's not enough and I've already tried that." Oliver shook his head.  
"Guys, I think I have an idea." Said Felicity as she stared at The Arrow outfit in its glass case.  
xxxx

Felicity's fingers flew over her keyboard as she entered command after command onto the screen. The Arrow stood silently behind her, watching as she worked her magic and not understanding a thing she was doing.  
Without warning, Oliver turned and fired an arrow towards the department heads. Todd, who was slowly crawling towards the door of the office, quickly scrambled back to his spot within the group as the arrow lodged itself into the wall behind them.  
"Hey!" Felicity yelled, stopping her typing as she swivelled angrily towards The Arrow. He turned back to her and placed a hand on the desk beside her, leaving over her shoulder.  
"You're scaring me." Felicity furiously whispered, thankful that Oliver's position made her invisible to the others. "Cut it out."  
"Sorry." he replied, though the apology was weakened by him rolling his eyes.  
"There." Felicity declared as a line of mumbo jumbo appeared on the screen. "That's your culprit."  
The Arrow nodded even though he had no idea what he was looking at. As Felicity finished writing down what she had found, she offered The Arrow the piece of paper even though she knew he would just be giving it right back to her once she got to the lair.  
As Oliver took the piece of paper from Felicity, loud footsteps sounded from the elevators as two security guards ran towards the office. They pulled their guns and trained them on Oliver where he stood beside Felicity.  
Oliver made to move in front of Felicity, intending to shield her from danger, but Felicity's discreet jab in his side stopped him. Instead he grabbed Felicity from behind and positioned her in front of him as he shuffled them towards the broken window.  
"Stop, or we'll shoot." The guards threatened.  
Oliver didn't even pause in his movements as he pushed Felicity towards the guards. They stumbled as she fell into them and The Arrow was able to make his escape, going out the same way he came in.  
xxxx

The solid steel door slammed as Felicity entered the lair. She angrily made her way down the stairs, calling out Oliver's name as she went.  
"Someone's not happy." Dig observed as Felicity marched over to where Oliver sat sharpening his arrows. She stood beside him with her arms crossed until he looked up at her.  
"What?" Oliver sighed.  
"What? What! What do you think?" she huffed, pushing him a little. He didn't move.  
"Felicity, I have no idea what you're talking about?" Oliver returned to sharpening his arrows. Felicity snatched it out of his hands.  
"Felicity Smoak you have failed this city." She dropped her voice as low as it would go, trying to mimic his Arrow voice.  
Oliver shrugged taking back the arrow. "You told me to make it convincing."  
"Yeah but you made it a little _too_ convincing." She replied, pushing him again. Again, he didn't budge. Felicity noticed Dig leaning against the edge of the desk, smirking at their exchange.  
"The man-handling I can forgive." Without looking away from Oliver, Felicity held up her hand at Dig as she saw him straighten and start to say something. "But shooting an arrow. Really?"  
"He was trying to get away." Oliver protested.  
"Please. He weighs like 120 pounds soaking wet, what was he going to do?"  
"Better to be safe than sorry. Look be mad all you want but I think it worked. No one could suspect you of working with The Arrow now that he's publicly attacked you."  
"Fine!" Felicity threw her hands up in defeat as she stormed out of the lair.  
"Uh Oliver?" Dig called for the attention of his friend. "We may have another problem."  
Oliver turned to look at where Dig was pointing at a new story flashing across the screen.

 **Love Is In The Air - Even For Vigilantes**  
_Is The Arrow smitten with one Felicity Smoak?_


	23. Did you hear that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver end up at the same restaurant for a date

Oliver punched the mannequin hard as he listened to the giggles and soft voice of Felicity. She was on the phone with Mike who she had been seeing for a few weeks and he could hear them making dinner plans. As Felicity confirmed that she would meet him at the restaurant at 8 o’clock that Friday night, she hung up and swung her chair around to face Oliver.  
“Oliver?” Felicity called out. Oliver pretended he didn’t hear her and continued his workout.  
“Oliver?” she tried again, this time throwing a balled-up piece of paper in his direction to try and get his attention.  
“Yep?” Oliver reluctantly acknowledged, not pausing in his punches.  
“I can’t come in on Friday night.” Felicity told him. “I have a date.”  
“That’s fine. I have plans myself.” He told her. Not that he did, but he would make some.  
“Oh.” Oliver could have sworn she almost sounded… disappointed? “With who?”  
“No one you know.” Oliver quickly replied.  
“Ok-ay.” Felicity drew out the word as she returned to her searches.

Friday came and Felicity decided to quickly stop by the lair on her way to the restaurant. She had set up some searches the night before and she wanted to check that they were running properly since she wouldn’t be around that night.  
She was surprised to hear noises as she approached and made her way down the stairs, figuring no one would be there. She found Dig and Oliver at the training mats as they faced off with the escrima sticks.  
“Hey.” Felicity greeted them. She got some waves in return as they continued sparring.  
“Anything going on out there?” Dig asked Oliver as he threw one of the sticks at Oliver’s legs, trying to trip him up.  
“Nope.” Oliver answered, easily dodging Dig's throw. “It’s been pretty quiet. I’m just gonna do a quick patrol tonight and then call it.”  
“Because of your plans?” Felicity called out from her spot.  
“What?” Both Dig and Oliver asked at the same time.  
“Oh right, my plans.” Oliver quickly backtracked. Shit, he had forgotten that he told her that.  
“Since when do you have plans tonight?” Dig asked his friend.  
“Since always.” Oliver responded, silently telling Dig to drop it. “Besides it’s been a while since Oliver Queen was seen out for the night, figured he should make an appearance.”  
“Still creepy man.” Dig told him, stepping away for a drink of water.  
“Okay well enjoy your night. I’m headed out to see Mike now.” Felicity waved goodbye as she left.  
“Oh.” Dig nodded. “Now I see why you ‘have plans’.”  
Oliver responded with a glare as he walked away.

Felicity waited out the front of the restaurant for her date, glancing around her at the citizens of Starling City coming and going. As she mindlessly looked around she thought she saw Oliver. But that couldn’t be true, she was clearly just spending too much time with the man.  
She absently rubbed her eyes, careful not to smudge her freshly applied eyeliner and mascara, and sure enough when her vision cleared she saw that it really was Oliver headed this way. He hadn’t seen her yet given that he was immersed in a conversation with the pretty brunette on his arm, looking down at her with a smile on his face.  
“Oliver, hi.” Felicity addressed him as he drew close. Startled, Oliver looked up to see Felicity standing there.  
“Felicity. What are you doing here?” Oliver questioned.  
“My date with Mike. I’m sure I told you this was the place I was going to.” Felicity fidgeted with the strap of her bag. Oliver made a negative sound and shook his head.  
“We can go somewhere else Ollie.” The brunette piped up, sensing tension between the two.  
Felicity waved away her suggestion with a smile. “Don’t be silly. This place is great.”  
“Are you sure?” Oliver asked her. “I really had no idea that this is where you were going.”  
A strange look crossed Felicity’s face, but it was quickly covered with another smile. “It’s fine. I’m sure we won’t even see each other inside.” Felicity assured him.  
“You’re probably right. Have a good night.” Oliver nodded at her and led his friend into the restaurant. Felicity continued to politely smile at them, though it quickly dropped once they were out of sight. Felicity sighed and waited for her date who showed up not long after.

After giving his name to the waiter, Felicity and Mike were led to a table near the back which also happened to be where Oliver was sitting. Felicity inwardly cringed as the waiter stopped at a table near Oliver’s which would allow him to witness her date the entire evening. Felicity glanced over at Oliver to gauge his reaction of their placement, but he was pointedly not looking at her as he fidgeted with the white linen napkin on the table.  
Felicity subtly rolled her eyes at his antics and took a seat at her table. Choosing not to look at Oliver and his date all night, Felicity sat with her back to the couple with Mike sitting across from her. It wasn’t long before the waiter returned to take their drinks orders and give them a few minutes with the menu. As Felicity glanced at the options, she could faintly hear Oliver and his date, who she had overheard was named Mindy, discuss what they were going to order. Of course, with the restaurant being in an old warehouse, it was essentially just a big cavernous space and sound travelled easily. Great, just another way to make this night even more awkward.  
When the waiter returned, Felicity chose the chicken risotto and Mike the steak. The two then started a pleasant conversation about their day and the week they had had. At a particularly funny part of his story, Felicity leaned forward and brushed her hand against Mike’s forearm who responded with a wide grin. Immediately, Felicity heard a loud crack come from behind her. From the direction of Oliver’s table.  
“Did you hear that?” Mike asked her, looking around the restaurant. As he was turned away, Felicity took the opportunity to look over at Oliver. She was shocked to see the stormy expression on his face and glancing down, she saw the shattered remains of his fork.  
“Um, I think there might be a storm coming.” Felicity tried to cover as she quickly turned back face Mike.  
“Really? I didn’t hear anything on the news.”  
“You know how they never get these things right.” Felicity shrugged. She felt someone walk behind her chair, and was startled again when she felt a slight touch on her arm. Looking up she saw Oliver walking away towards where the restrooms were. Confused, Felicity decided to follow him.  
“Sorry.” Felicity excused herself as she got up. “I’m just going to go to the bathroom before the food comes.”

Felicity made her way to the back of the restaurant and turned down the short hallway that led to the restrooms. She was surprised to find it empty as she thought Oliver was going to be there waiting for her. Shrugging she figured she might as well use the bathroom while she was there and headed towards the ladies room. As she walked past the men’s room she was suddenly pulled inside.  
As she opened her mouth to let out a surprised squeal, she found it covered with a large hand.  
“Relax. It’s just me.” Oliver told her as he slowly removed his hand.  
Felicity swatted at him.  
“No shit sherlock. What are you doing?”  
“Arrow business calls.” Oliver explained, waving his phone at her.  
“Really?” Felicity asked disbelievingly. “Right now?”  
“Yes, right now.”  
“And the fork?” Felicity questioned, stepping back from him and placing her hands on her hips.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Oliver denied, looking somewhere above her head and not meeting her eyes.  
Again, that same strange look crossed Felicity’s face.  
“And Mindy?” she asked him.  
“Who?”  
“Your date.” Felicity rolled her eyes.  
“Oh. I’m sure she’ll be fine. Come on.” Oliver ushered her towards the door.  
“Wait. Why didn’t I get a text or a call?” Felicity queried, staying where she was.  
“You probably did, and just didn’t hear it.” Oliver reasoned.  
“Okay that’s enough!” Felicity snapped.  
“What?” Oliver turned back to her looking confused.  
“That’s the 3rd time you’ve lied to me tonight Oliver.” Felicity started, silencing Oliver with a look when he went to deny it. “Our relationship started with you telling me a whole bunch of lies, that I easily saw right through by the way. You don’t think I know when you’re lying?”  
Oliver comically opened and closed his mouth as he struggled to think of something to say.  
“I’m going back to enjoy a nice dinner with Mike. I suggest you do the same.”  
“With Mike?”  
“With Mindy idiot.” Felicity told him as she moved to leave the men’s room. “But maybe at a different restaurant.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I went back and forth on how the progression of this chapter. Curious to know what you think ;)


	24. How did that happen?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's night doesn't go well - and he thinks he knows why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short #sorrynotsorry

Felicity sighed heavily as she finally got to sit down. She plonked herself onto her couch with her glass of red wine and tucked her bare feet beneath her, settling in to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who. Her tablet lay forgotten beside her, she had had enough of computers for one day.  
After a very long day at Queen Consolidated helping organise Oliver so he could run the place, she was beyond glad that he had given her the night off from any Arrow business. He had a ‘date’ to attend, one set up by his mother in an attempt to revive the Queen name among the elite of Starling City. The daughter of some prestigious shareholder in Queen Consolidated was in town for a few days and Ollie was encouraged to take her out and show her a good time.  
Felicity shuddered at what Oliver’s idea of a ‘good time’ was, but quickly dismissed the thought knowing that he wasn’t that kind of person anymore. She took a long sip of wine.

About halfway into the show, there was a loud knocking on her front door. Confused as to who it could be, Felicity stood and straightened her too long sleep shirt depicting dancing donuts and made sure she was decently covered given she had chosen to forego pants. She put her glass down on the coffee table and made her way to answer the door. There was another insistent knock at the door.  
“Coming, coming.” Felicity muttered rolling her eyes at their impatience. Looking through her peephole she was surprised to find Oliver standing there. She immediately opened the door and he stormed inside sans invitation.  
“Well hello to you too.” Felicity said as he brushed past her without a hello. She closed the door and went to sit on the couch. Oliver remained standing.  
“So I’ve had an interesting night.” Oliver started, hands in the pockets of his suit pants.  
Felicity made a small sound of acknowledgement and motioned for him to continue.  
“It started with the restaurant that I’m sure I made a booking at. Turns out, they couldn’t find our reservation and didn’t have any tables. We had to go somewhere else.”  
“Huh, that’s annoying."  
“Then when it came to pay, my credit card was declined. Apparently it was maxed out.”  
“Oh, which credit card?” Felicity innocently asked.  
“All 3 of them.” Oliver scowled.  
“Woah, how did that happen?”  
“I don’t know Felicity.” He sighed “You tell me.”  
“How would I know? Maybe your mother has cut you off.” She suggested.  
“Doubtful.” Oliver frowned and sat down beside her. “She was the one that organised this evening.”  
“Well I don’t know what to tell you Oliver. People max out their credit cards all the time.” Felicity shrugged, reaching for her glass of wine.  
“Not me.” Oliver shook his head. “Feels like I’ve been hacked.”  
Felicity coughed as she choked on her drink at his comment. Oliver was quick to hit her on the back to help her clear her airways.  
“What?” Felicity squeaked when she could speak again.  
“Felicity, is there something you want to tell me?”  
“Um, no.” Felicity answered, unconvincingly. Oliver just looked at her.  
“Fine.” Felicity gave up as she put her glass down. “But you started it.”  
“What? When?” Oliver demanded.  
“That night I went to _Rouge_. You totally interrupted my night with Matt.”  
“You just met the guy.” Oliver rolled his eyes.  
“Not the point. Point is, I just wanted one night off and not have to deal with all of _this_.” Felicity motioned to him. “And you just had to come down and interfere.”  
“That wasn’t you.” Oliver replied confidently.  
“How would you know?” Felicity asked him. “You’ve only known me for like a year.”  
“I have good instincts.”  
“Sure you do.” Felicity answer sarcastically, though she was sure that he did. “Doesn’t give you the right to hunt me down like some caveman.”  
“Fine. I’m sorry.” Oliver reluctantly apologised. “But no more hacking my stuff.”  
“Fine.” Felicity sighed, getting up and following Oliver to the front door.  
“So how did the rest of your night go?” Felicity asked him as she let him out.  
“My night’s not over yet.” Oliver winked as he laughed and headed down the stairs.  
“Ugh!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Just one left. I'm struggling though guys - the line is "I'm not going to make it" and I have no idea what to write! Ideas are more than welcome :)


	25. I'm not going to make it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas get together at Dig's doesn't quite go to plan.

Diggle pecked Lyla on the cheek as he came up behind her as she worked in the kitchen. She had been determined to give everyone a home-cooked meal for their little Christmas gathering, but with the pressures of her job at ARGUS she had been swamped with work and only just managed to get back to the house 30 minutes before they were due to arrive.  
Luckily, there was a little Italian restaurant nearby that was known for their good food and she was able to pick up a few things that would impress their guests.  
"What are you doing?" Dig laughed, watching as Lyla transferred the food from their take away containers to platters.  
"Just because it's not home-made Johnny, doesn't mean they need to know that." Lyla smiled at her husband with a wink.  
"You know Oliver and Felicity don't care about that stuff."  
"But I do." Lyla answered simply. "Here, be a darling and take these to the rubbish chute."  
Dig obliged, taking the now empty silver trays from her hands. As he made his way to the door he ran into JJ as he came tearing out of his room to plonk down in front of the TV.  
"Rudolph!" he shouted as his Dad passed him.  
"In a minute buddy." Dig answered, exiting quickly before returning a few minutes later to put on the Christmas DVD for JJ.  
Finished with the food, Lyla took a minute to check that the table was set perfectly. As she was straightening the knives and forks, there was a knock at the door.  
"I'll get it." Dig announced, striding to the door and opening it wide.  
He was surprised to see it was just Oliver and William at the door. No sign of Felicity.  
"Merry Christmas John." Oliver greeted as the two embraced in a manly hug.  
"Thanks for inviting us Mr Diggle." William politely said as Dig closed the door behind them.  
"What did I tell you about calling me John, William."  
"Dad said to call you Mr Diggle." William looked back at his father confused.  
"That's right." Oliver nodded with a pat on William's shoulder. John smiled and shook his head.  
"Where's Felicity?" John asked as he returned from the kitchen with a beer for Oliver and soda for William.  
"She said she had to check on something. She won't be long." Oliver told him just as his phone began to ring. He checked the caller ID. "Speak of the devil."  
"Hey how far away are you?" Oliver answered.  
"I'm not going to make it."  
"What do you mean you're not going to make it?" Oliver frowned. William paused as he played with JJ and Dig and Lyla looked on disappointed as Oliver continued his conversation.  
Felicity sighed. "Something's come up with Helix Dynamics. Curtis and I need to work on this all night if we want to get it done before Christmas."  
"What?"  
"It's a long story." Felicity explained. "But I can't come to John's."  
Oliver ran a weary hand down his face at the news, his wedding band catching the light.  
"Can't you do it tomorrow?" Oliver asked hopefully.  
"Sorry Oliver we need to get started on it right away. I'm sorry, I know how much this meant to you."  
"It's fine Felicity." Oliver was dejected but he tried to sound accepting.  
"Give John and Lyla my apologies, and maybe we can do it another time."  
"Of course." Oliver nodded. "William and I will be home soon."  
"What? No." Felicity immediately objected just as Lyla started to. "Stay. Have a good time."  
"Are you sure?"  
"What do you think you're going to do here?" Felicity asked and Oliver could picture her rolling her eyes.  
"I could help."  
"Oliver I love you but no, you can't." Felicity dismissed.  
"Fine, you're right." Oliver sighed. "Well we'll be home later then. Love you."  
"Love you too. Bye."  
Oliver ended the call just as William and Diggle shared a high five at the confirmation they were staying for dinner.  
________________________________________  
As Lyla was clearing the plates from dessert, there was a knock on the door. Oliver looked at Dig who shook his head, indicating that they weren't expecting anyone. Oliver signalled for him to stay put as he went to answer the door.  
Upon opening it he was very pleased to see it was Felicity. She beamed at him as she leant up to kiss his cheek.  
"I thought you said you couldn't make it and would be working all night?" Oliver asked her, ushering her inside.  
"Well Curtis and I are genius'." Felicity shrugged. "We had in done in no time, so I figured why not come and spend time with my friends and family."  
"Happy Holidays." she greeted as she joined everyone at the table.  
________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's it folks. A big thank you to all who commented or left kudos.


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